Polypodium palustre N. L. Burman, Fl. Indica, 234. 1768; Acrostichum palustre (N. L. Burman) C. B. Clarke; A. scandens Hooker (1864), not Bory ex Fée (1845); Chrysodium palustre (N. L. Burman) Luerssen; Lomaria scandens Willdenow; Lomariopsis palustris (N. L. Burman) Kuhn; L. scandens Mettenius; Olfersia scandens C. Presl; Onoclea scandens Swartz, nom. illeg. superfl.; Pteris scandens (Willdenow) Roxburgh; Stenochlaena hainanensis Ching & P. S. Chiu; S. scandens J. Smith.

Stems long creeping and climbing; scales at apex of rhizome dark brown to black, orbicular, ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, ca. 1 mm in diam., caducous. Fronds distant, dimorphic. Stipe 10-80 cm, glabrous; lamina 1-pinnate, oblong in outline, 50-80 × 20-30 cm; lateral pinnae 8-16 pairs, terminal pinna similar; pinnae very shortly stalked, articulate to rachis; sterile pinnae broadly lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, (10-)15-20 × 2-4.5 cm, varying much in size and shape, leathery or stiffly papery, surface smooth and glossy, base broadly cuneate, margin sharply and irregularly serrate, apex acuminate or sometimes caudate; fertile pinnae 10-20 × 0.1-0.5 cm, linear. Veins simple or forked, forming single row of narrow costal areoles. Sori acrostichoid, covering whole abaxial surface of fertile pinnae. 2n = 148.

Secondary forests, open places; near sea level to 400 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam; Australia, Pacific islands].