Asplenium pectinatum Wallich ex Mettenius, Abh. Senckenberg. Naturf. Ges. 3: 241. 1859; A. filix-femina (Linnaeus) Bernhardi var. pectinatum Wallich ex C. B. Clarke; Athyrium filix-femina (Linnaeus) Roth subsp. pectinatum (Wallich ex Mettenius) Á. Löve & D. Löve; A. filix-femina var. pectinatum (Wallich ex Mettenius) Beddome.

Rhizomes slender, long creeping, apex ascending, densely clothed with dark brown, lanceolate scales. Fronds approximate; fertile fronds 30-55 cm; stipe brown-stramineous, 15-25 cm, 1-2 mm in diam., base similarly scaly, upward glabrate; lamina 3-pinnate to 3-pinnate-pinnatifid, oblong-lanceolate, 15-35 × 8-25 cm at middle, base slightly narrowed, apex caudate-acuminate; pinnae ca. 20 pairs, lower pinnae opposite; upper pinnae subopposite, ascending, shortly stalked (stalk ca. 1.5 mm) or subsessile; basal pinnae slightly shortened, lower pinnae slightly shortened; middle pinnae deltoid-lanceolate, 10-15 × ca. 3.5 cm at base, base truncate, parallel to rachis, 2-pinnate, apex acuminate; pinnules ca. 20 pairs, basal pinnules opposite, upper pinnules alternate, spreading, separate from each other, broadly lanceolate, up to 2.5 cm × 8-10 mm at base, base equilateral, rounded-truncate, pinnate, apex acute or acuminate; ultimate pinnules 8 or 9 pairs, lower pinnules opposite; upper pinnules alternate, subspreading or ascending, linear, 4-6 × ca. 2 mm, base decurrent and adnate to wing of costule, dissected, apex obtuse; segments 3 or 4, teethlike, ascending. Veins inconspicuous adaxially, visible abaxially, pinnate in ultimate pinnules, lateral veins 3 or 4 pairs, oblique, simple, only 1 vein per tooth. Lamina submembranous when dried, yellow-green, glabrate; rachis, costae, costules (or midribs) stramineous, glabrate, with needlelike spines on adaxial side. Sori small, elliptic, 3 or 4 pairs per ultimate pinnule, 1 sorus per segment; indusia oblong, brown, membranous, erose at margin, persistent. Perispore surface with prominent folds. 2n = 80.

Coniferous forests; ca. 2100 m. SE Xizang [Bhutan, N India, Kashmir, Nepal].