Adiantum ensifolium (Swartz) Poiret; Lindsaea erecta Mirbel; L. griffithiana Hooker; L. lanceolata Labillardière; L. membranacea Kunze; Schizolegnia ensifolia (Swartz) Alston; Schizoloma ensifolium (Swartz) J. Smith; S. griffithiana (Hooker) Fée.

Rhizomes long creeping, densely scaly; scales appressed, reddish brown, 2-6 cells wide at base and acicular at apex. Fronds approximate or distant, 0.5-1 cm apart; stipe castaneous, 10-30 cm, quadrangular; lamina oblong, 15-40 × 10-25 cm, herbaceous to papery, 1-pinnate; pinnae 1-8 pairs, subopposite at base, alternate apically, narrowly lanceolate, shortly stalked or sessile, base broadly cuneate, margin entire or serrate in sterile pinnae, apex acuminate; terminal pinnae similar to lateral ones; veins anastomosing, veins uniting to 2 rows of areoles along each side of costae, other veins free, visible on both surfaces. Sori marginal, terminal on veinlets; indusia linear, continuous. 2n = ca. 176*.

For a complete synonymy, see Kramer (Fl. Males., Ser. 2, 1: 211. 1971).

Terrestrial, roadsides, forests; 100-700 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou (Wangmo), Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Bangladesh, India, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Africa, SW Asia, Australia, Pacific islands].