ICONES FILICUM SINICARUM 



IQ 



PLATE io. 



POLYSTICHUM ACANTHOPHYLLUM (Franch.) Christ 



POLYPODIACEJ? 



POLYSTICHUM ACANTHOPHYLLUM (Franch.) Christ in Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 52: Mem I. 30 



(1905); C. Chr. Ind. 575 (1906); Matthew in Jour. Linn. Soc. 39: 384 (1901). ' 



Aspidium acanthophyllum Franch. in Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 32: 28 (1885) 



Polystichum aculeatum Schott. var. acanthophyllum BedcL in Handb. Suppl. 43 (1892). 



Caudex short, erect; stipes fasciculate, 3-8 cm. long, stramineous, angular, densely 

 paleaceous, paleae yellow, concolored, dimorphic, the one narrow, linear, the other 

 broadly ovate, abruptly cuspidate, slightly imbricate; frond narrowly lanceolate, 

 acuminate, slightly reduced downward, 10-20 cm. long including the stipe, scarcely 2.2 

 cm. broad, bipinnatifid or bipinnate below under the pinnatifid apex, rachis densely 

 scaly, scales yellow, linear-setaceous; pinnae subsessile, close, imbricate, somewhat 

 distant below, texture rigidly coriaceous, lustrous green above, pale below, glabrous, 

 ovate, 2-4 on each side, cut straight on the inner side and parallel to the rachis, margin 

 thickened, strongly revolute, apex rigidly spinescent; son uniseriate, dorsal on lateral 

 veinlets, closer to the costa of pinnae or costules on basal pinnules or lobes, dark brown, 

 inducium peltate, orbicular, margin slightly erased. 





Distribution: Yunnan, Szechuan. 



Habit of P. aculeatum Schott., but of much smaller size, thick coriaceous texture 

 and simpler pinnae. Evidently an alpine plant of xerophytic habit. A fairly common 

 fern in Yunnan and Szechuan, as it has been reported by many collectors from that 

 region since its discovery by Delavay in 1882. 



Plate 10. Fig. 1. Habit sketch (natural size). 2. A pinna, showing venation and sori. 3. Two 



inducia, a, front view; b, lateral view (x 16). 4. Scales from rachis, (x 27). 5. Scales from rhizome 

 (X27). 



