Etymology Tomitar� Makino, 1862-1957, Japanese taxonomist.

Description Rhizome: erect, short, stout, scaly.
Frond: 75 cm high by 20 cm wide, evergreen, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 3:2.
Stipe: grooved, chestnut brown below, becoming green only halfway up the rachis, scales on stipes dense, lanceolate to broadly so, about 1 cm long, 3 mm broad, lustrous dark brown, papery, paler margins, vascular bundles: 4 or more, in an arc.
Blade: 2-pinnate, narrowly oblong-ovate, texture papery, dark green and bright on upper surface, scales on rachis narrowly lanceolate, brown, with hair-like projections at margin.
Pinnae: 13 to 18 pair, lower pinnae more or less same size as those above; pinnules ovate, obtuse to acute or round at apex; margins spiny; veins free, forked, anadromic.
Sori: round, between midrib and margin, indusium: peltate, small, central, sporangia: yellow or brownish to black.

Culture Habitat: floor of mountain forests. Distribution: eastern India, southern China, Japan, Philippines. Hardy to -25�C, USDA Zone 5.

Synonyms
Polystichum aculeatum (L.) Schott var. nigro-paleaceum Makino
Polystichum aculeatum (L.) Schott var. makinoi Tagawa