Polystichum sinense Christ

Plants terrestrial or epilithic. Rhizome short, to 130 mm long, erect to suberect, to 10 mm in diameter, rarely branched, set with roots, crowded, persistent stipe bases, and paleae; paleae broadly attached, castaneous, chartaceous, narrowly linear, the margins with small, widely spaced cellular outgrowths, the apex mostly terminating in an acicular cell, rarely in a small thin-walled cell, to 12 x 1 mm. Fronds caespitose, 8-12 per plant, suberect to arching, to 1.05 m long; stipe proximally castaneous, stramineous distally, adaxially sulcate, to 450 mm long x 5 mm in diameter, sparsely to densely paleated; larger paleae broadly attached, often slightly bullate, spreading, extending to the rachis, concolorous or bicolorous, chartaceous to crustaceous, broadly ovate-acuminate to ovate-acuminate, cordate to cordate-imbricate, the margins widely to closely fimbriate, fimbriae generally straight, the apex entire, terminating in an acicular cell, to 23 x 9 mm; smaller paleae apically or basally directed, stramineous, chartaceous, narrowly triangular to subulate, short-stalked, often somewhat auricled, the margins proximally with long straight, angular or curved outgrowths, distally with few widely spaced, short or long marginal outgrowths, the apex entire, terminating in an acicular cell, to 13 x 7 mm: lamina 2-pinnate, with up to 29 free pinna pairs, herbaceous to firmly herbaceous, pale to dark green adaxially, paler abaxially, narrowly elliptic, to 625 mm long, the proximal pinnae reduced, deflexed: rachis stramineous, adaxially sulcate, densely set with paleae similar to but smaller than those on the stipe, paleae restricted to the abaxial surface, to 9 x 3 mm: pinnae 1-pinnate, with up to 12 free pinnule pairs, proximally widely spaced, distally closely spaced and somewhat overlapping, folded ventrally along the rachis (conduplicate), narrowly triangular to oblong-attenuate, the proximal pinnae to 88 mm long x 20 mm wide: pinna-rachis stramineous, adaxially sulcate, densely paleated; paleae short-stalked, narrowly ovate to narrowly triangular, the margins proximally with long straight or angular outgrowths, apically with few widely spaced short or long outgrowths, the apex entire, terminating in an acicular cell: pinnules asymmetric, acroscopically auriculate, narrowly trullate to trullate, to 12 mm long, serrate, long-aristate; adaxially with straight or slightly twisted filiform paleae, simple or proximally with short straight or curved marginal outgrowths, the apex terminating in an acicular cell; abaxially with straight or proximally somewhat twisted, subulate-hastate paleae, the margins with short straight or angular outgrowths at the base, the apex entire, terminating in an acicular cell. Venation raised. Sori circular, c. 1 mm in diameter, terminal or near terminal on abbreviated vein branches: sporangium with 11-(15)-24 indurated annulus cells; stalk eglandular: indusium stramineous, peltate, circular or reniform, repand to erose, often with small central processes, persistent, the maximum radius 0.51-(0.75)-1.09 mm. Spores 64 per sporangium, brown, the perispore smooth or tuberculate, spiculate, closely perforated, the exospore 32-(41.74)-52 x 24-{30.16)-40 µm.