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The "Ishi-kaguma" (Microlepia strigosa) belongs to Dennstaediaceae (the Bracken family). It is an evergreen fern that is distributed along the coast from the southern Boso Peninsula of Honshu westward to Shikoku and Kyushu in Japan, as well as Taiwan, southern China, the Himalayan region, India, the Malay Peninsula, and Polynesia. It grows around houses, at forest edges, along valleys, and in mountains, and is 50 to 80 cm tall. The leaves are bipinnate compound, yellowish green to dark green, slightly shiny, and somewhat hardy. There are more than 20 pairs of lateral pinnae. The sorus is attached near the margins of the pinnae and the indisum is cup-shaped. "Kaguma" is one of the ancient names for "fern" in Japan, and the Japanese name for this species means "fern that grows on stony ground". In Taiwanese Chinese, it is called "粗毛鱗蓋蕨" and in Chinese "粗毛鱗蓋蕨" (cu mao lin gai jue).
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