ICONES FILICUM SINICARUM 
PLATE 217 
ADIANTUM EDENTULUM Christ 
ADIANTACE 
ADIANTUM EDENTULUM Christ in Bull. Soc. Bot. France 52; Mém. I. 63. 1905; C. Chr. Ind. 
Fil. 661. 1905; in Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 26; 310. 1931; Ching in Acta Phytotax. Sinica 6: 338, 1957. 
Adiantum Delavayi Christ, 1. c.; C. Chr. 1. c. 
Adiantum capillus-veneris L. var. sinuatum Christ in Bull. Soc. Bot. France 52: Mém. I. 61. 1905; in Bull. 
“Acad. Géogr. Bot. Mans. 1906: 62; C. Chr. in Acta Hort. Gotheb. 1: 93. 1924. 
Rhizome short-creeping or oblique, rather thick, clothed in rufo-brown or fusco-brown broadly lanceo- 
late acuminate scales; fronds subcaespitose, several together, stipe 12-20 cm long, a little over 1' mm thick, 
dark castaneous, glossy, dry somewhat compressed, glabrous above the base, lamina 12-18 cm long, 5-12 cm 
broad, deltoid-ovate to narrowly oblong, apex obtuse, 2-3-pinnate; pinnae 46 pairs (below the simply 
pinnate apical. part consisting of 2-4 paits of simple pinnae), alternate, very oblique, contiguous, petiolate 
(petioles on the basal pinnae to 1.5 cm long), the basal pinnae larger, 5-10 cm long, oblong (when simply 
pinnate), or deltoid (when bipinnate), varying from 1-2-pinnate; pinnules 36 pairs, simple, on petiolules 
3 mm long, or the lower 1-2 pairs again pinnate, on petiolules 5 mm long; the ultimate pinnules nearly all 
similar, 1-1.2 cm broad, 8-10 mm high, fan-shaped, cuneate, imbricate on the costules, the lower ones with 
slightly oblique base, shortly petiolulate, the upper margin rounded, entire or more or less 2-lobed; texture 
herbaceous or firmly so, dry green, concolorous and glabrous on both sides, the lobes of sterile pinnule 
rounded, entire or slightly undulate; veins quite distinct below; sori usually 2 to each pinnule, transversely 
oblong to linear, placed in deep sinuses especially at maturity. 
Numerous specimens have been seen from Northwest Yunnan, Southern Szechuan (Mt. Omei), Sikang 
and Kweichow (Van-chin Shan). Type from Ta-pin-tze, West Yunnan, Delavay 1523. A common fern 
in the region, growing on moss-clad rocks under forests at elevations of 2500 to 3400 m. 
A very distinct local species, but was much confused by Christ by giving different names to different 
growing stages of the same species. It is obviously a close relative to A. capillus-veneris L., differing in 
smaller ultimate bifid pinnules generally with 2 elongate sori transversely placed in deep sinuses and, above 
all, in the entire or at most wavy margin of the sterile pinnules. 
Plate 217. 1. Habit sketch (natural size). 2. Fertile pinna, showing the less deeply sunk indusia in younger 
state (X 4). 3. The same, showing more deeply sunk indusia in mature state (X 3). 4. Sterile pinna, showing 
entire or slightly wavy margin of the lobes (X 3). 5. Scale from the rhizome (X 30). 6-7. Sporangium with 
spores (X 100). 
