ICONES FILICUM SINICARUM 
PLATE 219 
ADIANTUM SMITHIANUM (C. Chr.) Ching 
ADIANTFACE 
ADIANTUM SMITHIANUM (C. Chr.) Ching in Acta Phytotax. Sinica 6: 335, 1957. 
Rhizome slender, wide-creeping, clothed in ovate-lanceolate acuminate, rufo-brown entire scales; fronds 
far apart, distichous, stipe strong, erect, terete, atro-castaneous, glossy and glabrous above the base, 15-20 
cm long, about 1.5 mm across, lamina broadly deltoid-ovate, base broader, cuneate-rounded, apex rather 
obtuse, 16-22 cm long and as broad, tripinnate; pinnae 5-7-jugate under a short, simply pinnate apex, alter- 
nate, contiguous, petiolate, ovate-oblong, 2-3 cm apart, oblique, the basal pair much the largest, 8-11 cm 
long, 45 cm broad, becoming smaller upwards; pinnules of the Ist. order petiolulate, 3-4-jugate under. the 
simply impari-pinnate apex, anadromously disposed, 3-4 cm long, about 1.5 cm broad, the anterior basal one 
erect and imbricating on the rachis, pinnate; pinnules of ultimate order broadly cuneate-obovate or flabellate, 
semi-circular round the upper margin, 1-1.3 cm long, 7-9 mm broad or even broader, base equal, petiolulate, 
the outer margin deeply and densely serrate; teeth elongate-deltoid, aristate, erect, about 30-35 to each 
sterile pinnule; zexture thin herbaceous, dry green; indusia 1-2-3 (or rarely more) to each ultimate pinnule, 
not reniform but semi-orbicular or quite often oblong, and straight above, semi-orbicular below, mem- 
branaceous, placed in rather deep sinuses. 
Szechuan: Northern part, near Kuan-yin-miao, Harry Smith 3671, alt. 3900 m. in stony and shrubby 
meadows; northwestern part, Drogochi, Harry Smith 4546, 4712 (type), alt. 2500 m. in open mixed forest 
by the road leading to Tsaga. Kansu: Ta-ka-chang, Dr. D. Hummels 1336. Yunnan: Likiang Snow 
Range, northwestern flank, S. K. Chiao 30217; K. M. Feng, alt. 2900 m.; on the border of Sikang, T. T. 
Yu 9490; Atuntze, T. T. Yu 5711, 9490, 7936; C. W. Wang 69868, alt. 2700 m. under forest; Weisih Hsien, 
C. W. Wang 63993, alt. 3500 m.; Doker-la, Mekong-Salwin Divide, G. Forrest 19974 (pro parte). Sikang: 
Tsa-wa-rung, C. W. Wang 65241, 66276, alt. 3400 m. under forest. 
This is a very common fern in the mountains in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau and was previously 
always confounded with the Himalayan A. venustum Don, which proves to be rare in W. China. The 
species ranges northwards as far as Taipei Shan in Shensi Province and Ta-wu-tai Shan in Shansi Pro- 
vince in North China, where it has become a much smaller and simpler form and is known as var. 
shensiense Ching (l.c.). 
Plate 219. 1. Habit sketch (natural size). 2. Ultimate pinnule with elongate oblong indusia (X 3). 3. The 
same with semi-orbular indusia (X 3). 4. Ultimate sterile pinnule, showing venation and serrature (X 3). 5. Scale 
from the rhizome (X 30). 6-7. Sporangium with spores (X 100). 
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