Japanese name: オウレンシダ（黄連羊歯） Scientific name:Dennstaedtia wilfordii
[Overview]
A deciduous fern found in humus soil in mountain forests, in rock shade and on limestone ground, often growing in colonies.
It is especially common on moist slopes.
A rhizome about 4 mm in diameter, covered with brown hairs, creeps long and horizontally.
The leaves are oblong-lanceolate, 10–30 cm long, twice-pinnately compound to three times pinnately deeply divided; the pinnae are broadly ovate with short stalks, and the lobes are deeply cut and toothed.
The leaves are almost hairless or sparsely covered with small hairs, but have no long hairs.
The petiole is about 5–30 cm long, glossy blackish brown from the base to the middle, and straw-colored to pale green in the upper part.
The petiole may be tinged reddish brown throughout.
The sporangium clusters are about 1 mm in diameter and borne at the tips of the lobes; they have a hairless, cup-shaped indusium opening outward.
[Notes]
The Japanese name is said to come from the leaves resembling those of Oren.
