Family

Polypodiaceae

Nomenclature

Belvisia henryi (Hieron. ex C.Chr.) Tagawa in Hara, Fl. East. Himal. 490. 1966; Tagawa & K.Iwats., SouthE. Asian Stud. 5: 51. 1967; Tagawa & K.Iwats., Fl. Thailand 3: 520. 1989; Boonkerd & Pollawatn, Pterid. Thailand: 263. 2000. – Hymenolepis henryi Hieron. ex C.Chr., Dansk Bot. Ark. 6(3): 67, f. 1. 1929; Tardieu & C.Chr., Fl. Indo-Chine 7(2): 451. 1941. – Lepisorus henryi (Hieron. ex C.Chr.) Li Wang, Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 162(1): 35. 2010.

Description

Epiphytic or lithophytic. Rhizome short creeping, up to 5 mm diam., bearing closely spaced fronds, densely scaly; scales narrowly subtriangular, gradually narrowing from base towards apex, long-attenuate and tailed at apex, up to 5 by 1.5 mm, broadest at basal portion, concolorously brown, clathrate, toothed at margin. Stipes short, castaneous, narrowly winged, scaly at base. Laminae narrowly oblong, rather suddenly narrowing at apex, bearing linear fertile portion, narrowly cuneate at base, the sterile portion about 25 by 3–5 cm; papyraceous to thin chartaceous, veins hardly visible, the margin of laminae usually plane; fertile portion linear, not constricted at base, up to 15 by 0.4 cm, sporangia occupying the whole under surface except the midrib and margin, the margin hardly revolute .

Distribution in Thailand

NORTHERN: Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Tak, Phitsanulok; NORTH-EASTERN: Loei; EASTERN: Nakhon Ratchasima; PENINSULAR: Chumphon.

Wider Distribution

Himalayas to SW China and N Vietnam.

Ecology

On mossy tree trunks or on mossy rocks in dense evergreen forests at high altitudes.

Proposed IUCN Conservation Assessment

Least Concern (LC). This species is widespread and not under any known threats.

Notes

The teeth of the rhizome scales are the intercellular walls of the marginal cells whose surface walls have been destroyed when young.

Voucher specimens - Thailand

Middleton et al. 5090, Phitsanulok, Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park (E); Middleton et al. 5141, Loei, Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary (E).