ICONES. FILICUM SINICARUM 
PLATE 188 
LEUCOSTEGIA MULTIDENTATA (Wallich) Beddome 
POLYPODIACEZE 
LEUCOSTEGIA MULTIDENTATA (Wallich) Beddome, Ferns Brit. Ind. Suppl. 4 (1876); Handb. 
Ferns Brit. Ind. 5x (1883); C. Chr. Ind. Fil. Suppl. II. r2t (1934). 
Aspidium multidentatum Wallich, List no 346 (1828, nom: nud.). 
Davallia multidentata Hk. Syn. Fil. 91 (1867); Clarks, Trans. Linn. Soc. II. Bot. 1: 443 (1880); C. 
Chr. Ind. Fil. 212 (1905). 
Humata multidentata Diels in Engl. u. Prantl: Nat. Pflanzenfam. 1: 209 (1899). 
Araiostegia multidentata Cop. Phil. Journ. Sci. 34: 241 (1927). 
Acrophorus Thomsoni Moore, Ind. Fil. 4 (1857, nom nud.). 
Microlepia pteropus Bedd. Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 313 (18609). 
Rhizome thick, wide-creeping, epigeeous, densely scaly; scales large, ovate-oblong, 
acuminate, bright brown, thin; frond distant, stipe 15-25 cm long, dark-straminous, nitente, 
densely at base and sparingly upwards clothed in large broadly ovate, acuminate, thin, 
brown scales, lamina ovate-deltoid, acuminate, 35-90 cm long, 17-30 cm broad near base, 
tripinnate; pinnae 10-15-jugate, patent, far apart, subalternate, petiolate (petiole about I 
cm long), the basal pair larger, 15-25 cm long, 7-10 cm broad, deltoid-oblong, acuminate, 
base subequal, bipinnate; pinnules to 10-jugate, alternate, petiolulate, the basal pair much 
the largest, 5-7 cm long, 3-4 cm broad at unequal base, deltoid-acuminate, pinnate to a 
narrow wing along costa; uliimate pinnules about 10-jugate, close, anterior basal one 
much larger, to 2 cm long, 1 cm broad, ovate-oblong, acute, deeply pinnatifid into 4-7- 
pairs of oblong acute segments, the lower ones again inciso-serrate; texture thin herbaceous, 
rachis and rachilets glabrous except the base of pinnae, pinnules and costa being 
clothed with a few large, ovate membranaceous, brown scales, glabrous or glandular 
beneath, rachis, rachilets and costa above densely hirsute; veins fine, distinct, in segments 
pinnate, one to each sharp tooth, but never reaches tip; sovt small, 2-12 to each ultimate 
pinnule, placed at the base of its teeth on the upper side of veinlets; indusiwm small, 
horse-shce-shaped, brown, membranaceous, fugaceous, free on all sides except the base. 
Yunnan: Shweli-Salween divide, G. Forrest 24701; Tengyueh, G. Forrest 27182 
(1925); Htawgaw, G. Forrest 27010; Mengtze, Hancock 17 (1893) 
Himalayas: From Nepal to Bothan. Also Khasia, common. 
Another distinct species of the genus, characterized by the presence of large broad- 
ly ovate thin brown scales on stipe, rachis, rachilets, and costa beneath and densely 
hirsute above. In hairiness, the species is closely related to another Himalayan species, 
L. membranulosa Wall., which differs by much smaller size, pinnate or bipinnatifid lan- 
ceolate leaves and pale brown lanceolate scales on rhizome. 
Plate 188. Fig. 1. Habit sketch (natural size). Portion of frond, showing venation and posi- 
tion of sori (x 10). 3. Scale from rhizome (x 20). 4. Hairs from the costa of pinnule above (x 150)- 
5. Scale from the costa of pinna beneath (x 27). 
