Aspidium lobatum (Hudson) Swartz var. chinense Christ; Polystichum assurgens Ching & S. K. Wu; P. lobatum (Hudson) C. Presl var. chinense Christ; P. neolobatum Nakai var. brevipinnum Tagawa; P. squarrosum (D. Don) Fée var. chinense (Christ) C. Christensen.

Plants evergreen. Rhizome erect, densely covered with lanceolate brown scales. Fronds 30-60 cm; stipe stramineous, 12-30 cm, 4-6 mm in diam. at base, densely covered with scales; scales brown to dark brown, ovate and lanceolate, apex twisted. Lamina bipinnate, narrowly ovate to broadly lanceolate, 32-55 × 6-11 cm, base rounded-cuneate or nearly truncate, slightly contracted, apex acuminate; rachis without proliferous bulbils, abaxially densely scaly; scales lanceolate and narrowly lanceolate, brown to blackish brown, strongly twisted. Pinnae 26-32 pairs, alternate, slightly ascendant, approximate, lanceolate, sometimes falcate, middle pairs 3.5-10 × 1.2-2 cm, obliquely broadly cuneate or shallowly cordate, shortly stalked, pinnate, acuminate. Pinnules 5-10 pairs, alternate, slightly ascendant, approximate, obliquely ovate or broadly lanceolate, bases obliquely cuneate, margins entire or with few small acute forward-pointing teeth, apices acuminate and spinulose; basal acroscopic pinnules largest, 1-2 cm × 4-6 mm; abaxially scaly; microscales filiform, strongly ciliate at base; frond texture leathery; venation pinnate on pinnules, concave abaxially, flat or slightly concave adaxially. Sori in 1 row on each side of midrib; indusia present, entire.

Broad-leaved forests; 1300-3100 m. Anhui, Chongqing, Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, ?Ningxia, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Japan, Nepal].