Aspidium prescottianum Wallich ex Mettenius var. sinense Christ, Boll. Soc. Bot. Ital. 10: 289. 1901; Polystichum alatawshanicum Chang Y. Yang; P. atuntzeense Ching; P. austrotibeticum Ching & S. K. Wu; P. decorum Ching & S. K. Wu; P. ellipticum Ching & S. K. Wu; P. fukuyamae Tagawa; P. lhasaense Ching; P. parasinense Chang Y. Yang; P. wilsonii Christ; P. prescottianum (Wallich ex Mettenius) T. Moore var. wilsonii (Christ) C. Christensen; P. sinense var. lobatum H. S. Kung.

Plants summer-green. Rhizome erect, densely covered with lanceolate brown scales. Fronds 20-70 cm; stipe stramineous, 5-34 cm, 2-5 mm in diam. at base, densely scaly; scales brown, ovate, lanceolate, and linear. Lamina bipinnatipartite or rarely bipinnate, narrowly elliptic or lanceolate, 25-58 × 4-14 cm, slightly contracted toward base, acuminate; rachis without proliferous bulbils, stramineous, both surfaces covered with linear brown scales, abaxially mixed with broadly lanceolate to narrowly ovate scales. Pinnae 24-32 pairs, alternate, slightly ascendant, shortly stalked, lanceolate, middle pairs 2.5-7 × 0.6-2 cm, bases oblique and nearly truncate, auriculate acroscopically, pinnatipartite to pinna rachis, apices acuminate. Lobes 7-14 pairs, nearly opposite, slightly ascendant, obliquely ovate or obliquely oblong, 4-12 × 2-5 mm, bases obliquely cuneate and decurrent to pinna rachis, slightly auriculate acroscopically, margins with acute forward-pointing teeth, apices acuminate; both surfaces covered with filiform microscales, microscales on abaxial surface denser; frond texture papery; venation pinnate on lobes, indistinct on both surfaces. Sori in 1 row on each side of midrib of lobe; indusia present, incised.

Polystichum sinense is often referred to P. wilsonii, a heterotypic synonym of P. sinense, by various authors. Polystichum sinense (Christ) Christ (1905) obviously has priority over P. wilsonii Christ (1911).

Alpine coniferous forests, meadows; 2500-4000 m. S Gansu (Minxian, Xigu), Qinghai (Yushu), Shaanxi, W Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang (Urumqi), S Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, NW India, Kashmir, Nepal, Pakistan; ?Africa].