Polypodium oligolepidum Baker, Gard. Chron., n.s., 14: 494. 1880; Lepisorus ellipticus Ching; Pleopeltis oligolepida (Baker) Á. Löve & D. Löve; Polypodium lineare N. L. Burman var. oligolepidum (Baker) Christ; P. trabeculatum Copeland.

Plants 10-20 cm tall. Rhizomes creeping, to 10 cm, 2-3 mm in diam., densely scaly; scales brown, sometimes with paler margins, lanceolate, 2.5-5 × up to 1 mm, very thick in center, margins serrate, central lumina opaque, marginal 1 or 2 rows of lumina brownish, transparent. Fronds 1-1.5 cm apart; stipe straw-colored, to 1(-3) cm, robust, 1-1.5 mm in diam.; lamina yellowish green, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 8-18 × 1.5-3.5 cm, widest 1/3-1/2 from base, softly leathery when dried, abaxially densely scaly, scales deep brown, lanceolate, 1-2 × 0.4-0.5 mm, lumina usually transparent, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate, decurrent, apex acuminate; costa robust, raised on both sides, veinlets obscure. Sori on distal half of lamina, slightly closer to costa, orbicular or elliptic, up to 4-5 mm in diam., sterile at ends, contiguous; paraphyses deep brown, orbicular, 0.4-0.6 mm in diam. center thick and dark. Spores tuberculate.

Lepisorus oligolepidus is a distinct species in Lepisorus identifiable by the broadly lanceolate fronds, less than 20 cm, abaxially rather densely covered with small scales, the large subcostular sori, very closely spaced, and the usually relatively thick rhizome, to 10 cm, with thick, dark, linear-lanceolate scales.

Shaded places on slopes or tree trunks or rock crevices in forests; 200-2300 m. Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Guangdong, ?Guangxi, Guizhou, ?Henan, Hunan, Jiangxi, ?Shaanxi, Sichuan, ?Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, ?Myanmar, Japan].