ICONES FILICUM SINICARUM 
BEALE Ton 
MICROLEPIA TENERA Christ 
POLY PODIACEAE 
MICROLEPIA TENERA Christ in Lecomte, Not. Syst. 1: 53 (1909); C. Chr. Ind. Fil. Suppl. 
51 (1906-12). 
Rhizome slender, wide-creeping, about I mm thick, subglabrous; frond far apart, 
stipe 25-35 cm long, slender, terete, glabrescent, rufo-straminous; lamina oblong-lanceo- 
late or broadly lanceolate, 30-40 cm long, 13-15 cm broad at base, acuminate or caudato- 
acuminate, base not attenuate, deeply tripinnatifid, lateral pinnae about 15-jugate, 
alternate, the lower ones far apart (about 5 cm apart), the basal ones as long as, or 
slightly longer than, those next above, 7-8 cm long, 3-4 cm broad at base, patent, the 
upper middle ones close together, oblique-patent, subfalcate, about as long as the lower 
ones, those above the upper two-thirds are gradually shortened below the pinnate apex, 
all very shortly petiolate (petiole about 2 mm long), oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, base 
equal, secondary pinnules in the lower pinna about 10-jugate, patent, the basal ones of 
equal length, as long as those next above, 2-2.5 cm long, 1 cm broad, base subequal, i. e. 
the posterior side cut away, oblong, obtusish, sessile but never adnate; ultimate pinnules 
in the lower pinnae about 6-8-jugate, close, oblique, 5-7 mm long, decurrent, apex 
roundish, 3-4-lobulato-incised, or entire on the lower side, 2-3 bluntly toothed on the 
upperside; veins in the ultimate pinnule pinnate, one to each lobe or tooth, veinlet 
simple, fine, but distinct; vachis and rachilets moderately strigose-hairy, both sides 
sparcely hirsute on costules, veins and veinlets; texture thin herbaceous, color light 
green; sovi small, one to each ultimate pinnule, or to each segment in lower pinna, 
borne on the anterior veinlet, falling short from the margin, indusiwm small, green, sub- 
glabrous, membranaceous, of the lastreoid type, i. e. reniform, attached by a deep sinus 
and free all round. 
Yunnan: Szemeo, Henry 13155A (type), 13155; Mengtze, Hancock 75. Kweichow: 
Houang-tsa-pa, Cavalerie 7288. 
One of the most distinct species of the genus, endemic in Southwestern China. The 
slender habit, thin herbaceous texture only sparcely strigose on both surfaces, the widely 
separated and very shortly petiolate lower pinnae with almost equal base, and the small, 
thin, green indusium of a lastreoid type are the outstanding characters of this species. 
The general habit, thin herbaceous texture and the small, greenish, membranaceous in- 
dusium of a lastreoid type tend to make this fern appearing so alike Dryopteris flaccida 
(Blume) O. Ktze that it would have been strongly suspected to be a form of 
that species also known in the locality, had it not been for its primitive solenostelic 
vascular structure in the rhizome and its terminal sori. 
Plate ror. Fig. 1. habit sketch (natural size). 2. an ultimate pinnule from the lower pinna 
(S<r2)r 
