Polypodium punctatum Thunberg, Fl. Jap. 337. 1784; Dryopteris punctata (Thunberg) C. Christensen (1905), not Kuntze (1891); Hypolepis yunnanensis Ching; Nephrodium punctatum (Thunberg) Diels; Phegopteris punctata (Thunberg) Mettenius.

Rhizome 1.5-4 mm in diam., with pale brown hairs to 2 mm. Stipe pale chestnut-brown, distally sometimes becoming yellow-brown or darker, 15-75 cm, 2-4 mm in diam., smooth or slightly rough, with sparse, brown-tinged, glandular and eglandular hairs to 2 mm; rachis pale chestnut-brown or yellow-brown throughout, hairs similar to those of stipe; lamina 3(or 4)-pinnate, ovate to broadly ovate in outline, (22-)35-80(-100) × 17-27(-70) cm, iridescent when dry, firmly herbaceous or papery, abaxially with fine, colorless or brown-tinged, glandular and eglandular hairs rather variable in length and density, adaxially with hairs similar but shorter and sparser; pinnae 8-15(-25) pairs, opposite or subopposite, largest at or near base, narrowly triangular, triangular, or ovate, 9-50 × 3.5-20 cm; pinnules oblong or narrowly triangular, 2-11 × 1-4 cm; ultimate pinnules oblong, 4-19 × 2-8 mm, apex obtuse. Sori circular or ovate, without hairs between sporangia, unprotected.

Records of Hypolepis punctata from the Indian subcontinent were based on misidentifications of H. polypodioides (Fraser-Jenkins, Taxon. Revis. Indian Subcontinental Pteridophytes, 558. 2008). Material of H. resistens was also routinely included within H. punctata prior to its recognition as a distinct species in 1987.

Near streams, dense forests; 100-2400 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Cambodia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam; Australia, tropical America].