Asplenium rupicola Edgeworth ex C. Hope, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 12: 531. 1899; A. filix-femina (Linnaeus) Bernhardi subvar. elongata C. B. Clarke ex Blanford.

Rhizomes shortly creeping, apex ascending, densely clothed with chestnut-colored or dark brown, narrowly subulate-lanceolate, fibriform-tipped scales. Fronds caespitose; fertile fronds 25-55 cm; stipe brown at base, upward stramineous, 5-15 cm, 1.2-2.5 mm in diam., base densely clothed with similar scales as those on rhizomes, upward glabrate; lamina pinnate, narrowly or broadly lanceolate, 20-35 × 5-8.5 cm, base gradually narrowed, apex acuminate; pinnae pinnatipartite, 20-30 pairs, many lower pairs of pinnae gradually shortened into triangular auricles, ca. 1 cm, subopposite, slightly inclined; middle pinnae narrowly deltoid-lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, 2.5-4 cm × 8-16 mm, base truncate, sessile, pinnatipartite to narrow wing of costa, apex acuminate, subopposite or alternate, spreading or slightly curved upward; pinnules 8-12 pairs, basal acroscopic pinnules larger, other pinnules oblong, 4-5 × 1.5-3 mm, adnate to narrow wing of costa, margin serrate or biserrate, apex obtuse or acute. Veins inconspicuous adaxially, visible abaxially, pinnate in segments, lateral veins ca. 6 pairs, simple or forked. Lamina herbaceous when dried, greenish brown, glabrate on both surfaces; rachis and costae on abaxial surface stramineous, glabrate, or occasionally with few brownish, fibrous scales. Sori orbicular, abaxial on acroscopic veins, 2-5 pairs per pinnule; indusia pale brown, large, orbicular-reniform or subovate, erose at margin, persistent. Perispore with prominent folds, surface granular. 2n = 80.

Valley forests, rock crevices, damp areas at roadsides; 1800-3800 m. Sichuan, SE Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Nepal, N Pakistan].