Etymology Lonchitis is from the Greek logch meaning spear, hence spear shaped.

Description Rhizome: erect, scales variable in shape, ovate to lanceolate, gradually narrowing towards apex, pale brown,.
Frond: 40 cm high by 6 cm wide, evergreen, persisting through the following summer, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 8:1.
Stipe: grooved, green or straw colored with age, scales light brown, gradually diminishing in size upward, vascular bundles: 5, in an arc.
Blade: 1-pinnate, linear, often widest above middle, base narrowed, drooping at the tip, glossy, microscales dense below, glabrous above.
Pinnae: 25 to 35 pair, oblong to lanceolate, bending towards the apex, proximal pinnae � deltate, rarely overlapping, in 1 plane, 0.5--3 cm, base truncate to oblique, upper ear well developed; margins serrulate-spiny with teeth spreading; veins free, forked.
Sori: round, between costae and margins, only on the upper half of the blade, indusium: peltate, distinct, grayish white, thin, central, sporangia: dark brown or black, maturity: mid to late summer.

Culture Habitat: rock crevices or at base of boulders, mostly in boreal and subalpine coniferous forests or alpine regions. Distribution: Europe, Siberia, Himalaya, Japan and N. America, Greenland. Hardy to -35�C, USDA Zone 3.

Synonyms
Polypodium lonchitis Linnaeus
Aetopteron lonchitis House
Aspidium lonchitis (L.) Swartz
Dryopteris lonchitis (L.) O. Kuntze
Hypopeltis lonchitis Tod.
Polystichum asperum Bubani