Polystichum sikkimense Beddome, Ferns Brit. India 1: 127. 1866; Aspidium sikkimense (Beddome) Baker; Dryopteris pseudosikkimensis Ching & S. K. Wu; Lastrea sikkimensis (Beddome) Beddome.

Plants 75-80 cm tall. Rhizome erect, short, juvenile buds wrapped in ferruginous scales. Fronds caespitose; stipe dark brown, up to 30 cm, ca. 3 mm in diam., sparsely scaly; scales ovate-lanceolate to broadly ovate, usually appressed; lamina ovate, up to 50 × 35 cm, tripinnate-pinnatifid, apex acuminate; pinnae ca. 15 pairs, oblique, approximate, alternate or subopposite, shortly stalked, basal ones similar to upper ones, linear-lanceolate, ca. 17 × 3.5 cm, base symmetrical, rounded-truncate, apex caudate-acuminate; pinnules ca. 20 pairs, nearly spreading, approximate, oblong, sessile, basal pair ca. 2 × 8 mm, base slightly oblique, cuneate, apex rounded, with sparse teeth; segments 5 or 6 pairs, ascending, approximate, basal acroscopic one larger than next above, oblong, apex obtuse, with several obtuse teeth. Lamina herbaceous, glabrous on both surfaces; costa clothed with few broadly lanceolate, brown scales abaxially, rachis stramineous, sparsely clothed with appressed, broadly ovate, glossy black acute scales abaxially, rachis as well as costa with a broad groove adaxially; veins slightly visible, ca. 2 pairs on each segment, oblique, forked. Sori confined to upper half of pinnae, 2 or 3 pairs, 1 sorus on each segment; indusia brown, membranous, persistent.

Broad-leaved forests; ca. 2300 m. Xizang (Mêdog), Yunnan (Gongshan) [India (Sikkim)].