Abstract:Cytological observations on five Dryopteris species and four Polystichum species from China are reported. Most of the materials examined were field-fixed in Emei Shan, Sichuan province, and one of them was in Dali Xian, Yunnan province. Only the count of Dryopteris goeringiana was made from the plant brought from Wuling Shan, Beijing and grown in the garden of our Institute. All the materials were fixed in 1:3 acitic acidalcohol, and stained with acetocamine. All the counts were made at diakinesis or metaphase I of meiosis in SMCs .The results of the observation on them are summarized in table 1. Of these, the chromosome numbers for six species are first report. Five species are sexual: diploid: D. goeringiana, D. porosa, D. subinaequalis, D. yui and P. stenoghyllum. Three spe cies are sexual tetraploid: P. acutidens, P. erosum and P. moupingense. Only D. juxtaposita is an apomictic triploid. The vouchers are preserved in the Herbarium of our Institute (PE). We are indebted to Prof. R. C. Ching and C. R. Fraser-Jenkins for identification of the materials.