Plants 50-80 cm tall. Rhizome erect, short, apex with brownish black scales. Fronds clustered; stipe basally brown, upper part and rachis and costae straw-colored, 25-50 cm, ca. 2 mm in diam., glabrous; lamina 2(or 3)-pinnatipartite, oblong in outline, 30-40 × 10-18 cm; lateral pinnae 7-9 pairs, opposite, decumbent, sessile, lanceolate, base broadly cuneate, symmetrical, lowest pair of pinnae cut obliquely from base, pectinately lobed nearly to costa, often with 1(or 2) basiscopic pinnules similar in shape to main part of pinna; terminal pinna same as lateral pinnae, with stipe ca. 1 cm; segments 22-30 pairs, alternate or opposite, ca. 1 mm apart, spreading or decumbent, lanceolate, somewhat falcate, 10-15 × 3-4 mm, slightly expanded, slightly narrower toward top, obtuse, entire; costae glabrous, abaxially grooved, with needlelike spines along groove, midvein with a few needlelike spines or spineless; veins conspicuous on both surfaces, 2-forked at base, oblique, basal pair of veins reaching margin above sinus; lamina pale green or brown-green when dried, herbaceous, glabrous.

Open forests; 300-900 m. Chongqing, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang [Japan, N Vietnam].