ICONES FILICUM SINICARUM 
PLATE 241 
POLYSTICHUM THOMSONI (Hooker fil.) Beddome 
ASPIDIACEZ 
POLYSTICHUM THOMSONI (Hooker fil.) Beddome, Ferns Brit. Ind. t. 126. 1866; Handb. Ferns 
Brit. Ind. 206. 1883; Diels in Engl. u. Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 1: iv. 191. 1899; C. Chr. Ind. Fil. 
588. 1905; Christ in Bot. Gaz. 51: 348. 1911; Hand.-Mzt. Symb. Sin. 6: 28. 1929. 
Aspidium Thomsoni Hook. fil. in Hooker, 2nd. Cent. Ferns t. 25. 1860 (pro parte); Hook. & Bak. Syn. Fil. 
251. 1864 (pro parte); Clarke, Ferns N. Ind. in Trans. Linn. Soc. II. Bot. 1: 508. 1880. 
Dryopteris Thomsoni O. Ktze. Rev. Gen. Pl. 2: 813. 1891. 
Rhizome short, erect, radicose; fronds fasciculate, stipe 3-5 cm long, dark stramineous, copiously scaly 
especially near the base, scales rufo-brown, ovate-oblong, acuminate, sparsely fimbriate, becoming linear- 
lanceolate or fibrillose upward, lamina linear-lanceolate, 7-12 cm long, 2-3 cm broad, gradually long- 
attenuate and ended in a long linear cauda towards apex, not or usually only slightly narrowed towards 
the base, deeply bipinnatifid or subbipinnate; pinnae numerous, patent, regularly spaced, 1-15 cm long, 
5-6 mm broad at the base, subrhombic-triangular, acute, base unequal or subequal in the lower pinnae, 
cuneate below, the upper side oblique with enlarged incised auricle, pinnatifid down to a narrow wing 
along the costa into 4-5 pairs of oblique, entire or cleft, lanceolate-acuminate, incurved segments; texture 
herbaceous or firmly so, rachis copiously and costa underneath sparsely fibrillose, dry brownish-green; veins 
pinnate in the auricle, forked in segments; sori small, 3-5 on each side of costa, 2-3 in the auricle, medial, 
terminal on short anterior veinlets, indusium large, membranaceous, crenate, quite persistent. 
Yunnan: N. E. of Atuntze, G. Forrest 20171, Sept. 1921; Yung-peh mountains, G. Forrest 15319; 
Weisih, Mekong-Salwin Divide, K. M. Feng 4475 on shaded rocks, alt. 2100 m.; Likiang, Yulung Shan, 
H. Handel-Mazzetti 3587; Young-pie Hsien, Lee-tze-ping, R. C. Ching 22422; Chen-kang Hsien, C. W. 
Wang 72422 in rock crevices, alt, 2800 m.; Hokin, R. C. Ching 23654 on shaded rocks. Szechuan: Mt. 
Omei, Sih-shiang-chu, S. C. Chen 30114, on stone wall, alt. 1500 m. ; E. H. Wilson 2607 (pro parte); Faber 
(pro parte). 
N. India: The Himalayas, from Balti to Sikkim, alt. 2000-2800 m., very common. 
A quite elegant and shade-loving fern, characterized by the long tail-like apex of the linear-lanceolate 
fronds and soft herbaceous texture. 
Plate 241. ° 1. Habit sketch (natural size). 2. Pinna, showing venation and sori (X 4). 3. Scale from the 
base of stipe (X 20). 4-5. Sporangium with spores (X 100). 
