English: Hard shield-fern.
Name: Latin aculeatum means bristly.
Region: Europe; British Isles and western France.
Habitat: mild winters and moist summers; mountain limestone screes, Jura and the alps, on alpine and subalpine limestone cliffs.

BotanyFern; evergreen.
Leaves: glossy; dark green; 30 to 90 cm long; usually drooping downslope; typically 3 to 8 fronds on a mature plant; stiff and hard-textured; bipinnate; single-pinnate on small, young plants; pinnae opposite on the stalk; pinnae is 3 to 11 cm long, with a large upward-pointing pinnule at the base, and the other pinnules decreasing in size toward the pinna tip; the pinnules have bristly tips; living for 1 to 3 years.
Sori: round; occupy two rows on either side of the midrib of each pinnule; covered by a centrally-attached, umbrella-like indusium with fringed edges.
Spores: light yellow.