Aspidium stimulans Kunze ex Mettenius, Abh. Senckenberg. Naturf. Ges. 2: 327. 1858; A. ilicifolium D. Don; Dryopteris ilicifolium (D. Don) Kuntze; Polystichum ilicifolium (D. Don) T. Moore (1858), not Fée (1850).

Plants evergreen. Rhizome erect, densely covered with lanceolate brown scales. Fronds 12-20 cm; stipe stramineous, 3-12 cm, 2-3 mm in diam. at base, scaly; scales brown or dark brown, lanceolate and filiform, denser at base of stipe. Lamina linear-lanceolate, 7-15 × 1.8-2.5 cm, not or slightly contracted at base, 1-pinnate but lower pinnae often pinnatifid, acuminate or long acuminate; rachis without proliferous bulbils, abaxially scaly; scales narrow, margins ciliate. Pinnae 10-16 pairs, alternate, attached at right angles to rachis, obliquely ovate nearly to deltoid, 8-14 × 6-8 mm, bases broadly obliquely cuneate, obliquely rounded-cuneate, or nearly cuneate, auricles deltoid, margins with small teeth, basal acroscopic margins of lower pinnae with 1 free pinnule or 1 or 2 pairs of lobes, apices acute, or acuminate and mucronate; lobes ovate, apex acute and mucronate; abaxially scaly; microscales filiform; frond texture hard leathery; venation pinnate on pinnae, indistinct on both surfaces. Sori in 1 row on each side of midrib; indusia present, toothed.

Polystichum stimulans was previously published by C. Presl (Tent. Pterid. 83. 1836) but as a nomen nudum and not therefore validly published (Melbourne Code, Art. 38.1(a)).

On rocks; 1700-3000 m. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, Nepal].