Etymology Argentea means silvery.

Description Rhizome: erect, short, scales reddish brown to dark brown, linear-lanceolate.
Frond: 20 cm high by 10 cm wide, evergreen, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 1:2.
Stipe: purplish brown, polished, fragile, sparsely scaly at base, vascular bundles: 1.
Blade: 1-pinnate-pinnatifid, but there may be one pinnatifid pinnule on the lowest pinna next to the rachis, pentagonal, papery, gray-green above, white-waxy below, white or yellow powder from wax glands below, glabrous above.
Pinnae: 3 to 8 pair, one or two distinct pinnae pairs topped by a pinnatifid, winged rachis; segments fertile segment margins slightly enrolled to cover sporangia; margins serrate; veins free, forking.
Sori: linear, submarginal, indusium: false, continuous along the margin, sporangia: black.

Culture Habitat: dry limestone rocks, mortared walls. Distribution: Siberia, Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Hardy to -25°C, USDA Zone 5.

Distinctive Characteristics The pentagonal blade with white lower surface is distinctive.

Synonyms
Pteris argentea S. G. Gmelin
Aleuritopteris argentea (S.G. Gmelin) Fée