Description from
Flora of China
Polypodium varium Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1090. 1753; Aspidium opacum (Hooker) Bentham; A. varium (Linnaeus) Sweet; Dryopteris caudifolia Ching & P. S. Chiu; D. consimilis Ching; D. fuyangensis Ching & P. S. Chiu; D. glabrescens Ching & P. S. Chiu ex K. H. Shing & J. F. Cheng; D. hololepis (Hayata) Tagawa; D. lingii Ching; D. matsuzoana Koidzumi; D. nanchuanensis Ching & Z. Y. Liu (Oct 1984), not Ching & Z. Y. Liu (1983), nor Ching & Z. Y. Liu (Jul 1984); D. ogawai H. Itô; D. sinovaria Ching & Z. Y. Liu; D. yabei Hayata; D. yabei var. hololepis (Hayata) H. Itô; D. yabei f. ogawai (H. Itô) H. Itô; D. yabei var. ogawai (H. Itô) H. Itô; Lastrea opaca Hooker; L. varia (Linnaeus) T. Moore; Nephrodium varium (Linnaeus) C. Presl; Polystichum hololepis Hayata; P. varium (Linnaeus) C. Presl.
Rhizome ascending, apex densely covered with scales; scales dark brown, linear-lanceolate, 1.5-2 cm, hairlike at apex. Fronds caespitose. Stipes stramineous, 20-50 cm, 4-5 mm in diam., base densely clothed with dark brown or blackish, narrowly lanceolate scales; upward scales becoming brown, smaller and markedly narrow or hairlike. Lamina pentagonal-ovate, tripinnate or bipinnate; basal pinnules pinnatipartite, 30-40 × 20-25 cm, deeply cordate, caudate at apex. Pinnae 10-12 pairs, broadly lanceolate; lowest pinna largest, 15-20 × 10-15 cm, with stalks 0.5-1 cm, acuminate. Pinnules 6-10 pairs, lanceolate, basiscopic pinnules usually larger than acroscopic; lowest basiscopic pinnule on lowest pinna largest, up to 15 × 3 cm, pinnatisect on large fronds and pinnatifid on small fronds and farther up. Ultimate pinnules or segments on lowest pinnule lanceolate, pinnatifid or serrate, acute. Veins pinnate; veinlets simple or forked, visible abaxially. Lamina subleathery, green; rachis and pinna rachis covered with brown or nearly black hairlike scales; pinnule rachis and costa covered with brown, bullate scales abaxially. Sori nearer margin than costa; indusia brown, reniform, entire, rarely fimbriate.
See Knapp (Ferns Fern Allies Taiwan, 455. 2011) regarding Taiwanese specimens with a fimbriate indusia.
Subtropical and temperate forests; sea level to 2300 m (in Taiwan). Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Vietnam].