Polypodium leptophyllum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1092. 1753; Acrostichum leptophyllum (Linnaeus) Lamarck & Candolle; Grammitis leptophylla (Linnaeus) Swartz; Gymnogramma leptophylla (Linnaeus) Desvaux.

Rhizomes small, short; scales few, pellucid. Fronds tufted; stipe chestnut-brown, 2-6 cm × 0.5-1 mm, glabrous or occasionally with 1 or 2 pellucid and jointed long hairs; lamina yellowish green, ovate-deltoid to ovate-lanceolate, 4-8 × 1.5-3 cm, submembranous when dry, glabrous, 2-pinnate to 2-pinnate-pinnatifid. Basal pinnae usually larger than adjacent ones; distal pinnae gradually reduced. Ultimate pinnules or segments obovate or obdeltoid, base cuneate and decurrent, apex shallowly lobed. Veins visible on both surfaces. 2n = 58.

Anogramma leptophylla is variable in frond shape. The laminae of young plants can be orbicular-fan-shaped, bifurcate, or tripartite, or in 1-pinnate individuals narrowly ovate, with all the pinnae fan-shaped and shallowly lobed at apex.

Evergreen broad-leaved forests, stream banks; below 2900 m. Taiwan, Yunnan [India, Vietnam; Africa, SW Asia, Australia, Europe, Pacific islands, South America].