ICONES FILICUM SINICARUM 



15 



PLATE 8. 





ASPIDIUM EBENIUM C. Christ 



ensen 



POLYPODIACEAE 



ASPIDIUM EBENIUM C. Chr. Bull. Geogr. Bot. Mans (1913) 138; Ind. Suppl. 5 (1913-16). 



Stipes and rachis shining, ebeneous, very shortly tomentose on the upper side,* 

 frond ample, deltoid, about 70 cm. long, 60 cm. broad at the base, dark green; texture 

 thin herbaceous, costa like the rachis very shortly reddish-tomentose on the upper side, 

 otherwise the entire plant glabrous, bipinnate to tripinnatifid; the lower 2 pairs of pinnae 

 petiolate, alternate, 15 cm. apart, the upper 2 sessile but free, the uppermost broadly 

 adna.te or confluent upward, connected by a wing 1-3 cm. broad, the basal pinnae much 

 the largest, pinnate below into sessile or adnate pinnules, pinnatifid upward into 6-8 

 segments connected by a wing 1-1.5 cm. broad, the basal 2 free pinnules 10-17 cm. long ; 

 5-6 cm. broad, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, cuneate-rounded at the base, pinnatifid 

 half way down, the middle segments about 10 cm. long, 3-5 cm. broad, broadly lobed or 

 pinnatifid; lobes subfalcate, obtuse, broadly crenate, 1-1.5 cm. broad; the middle pinnae 

 and the segments below the apex of the frond pinnatifid in the similar manner as the 

 basal pinnae; veins distinct, reticulate, areolae 5-6-gonous, usually with included free 

 veinlets; sori subirregular, on the ultimate lobes, uniseriate, 7-3 on each side of the 

 costule, leaving a broad blank space in the middle, inducium corrugated, persistent, 



peltate, dark brown. 



Distribution: Kweichow. 



A large fern in the genus closely allied to A. cicutarium Sw., differs only in shin- 

 ing ebeneous stipe, rachis and costa, and in inferior pinnules shorter than those next 

 above. Collected in Kweichow under forest by Pere J. Esquirol, 19 10. 



Plate 8. Fig. 1. Habit sketch of a portion of frond, (natural size). 2. A portion of ultimate 

 segment, showing venation and sori. 





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