Gymnogramma affinis C. Presl, Tent. Pterid. 218. 1836; Coniogramme affinis var. pilosa H. S. Kung; C. argutiserrata Ching & K. H. Shing.

Plants 60-120 cm tall. Stipe straw-colored, or sometimes brown proximally, 30-70 cm × 3-7 mm; lamina brownish green, narrowly ovate or ovate-oblong, 25-85 × 15-50 cm, 2-pinnate, or 3-pinnate at base (rarely 1-pinnate), thinly herbaceous when dry, both surfaces glabrous or rarely hairy abaxially. Pinnae 5-8 pairs, basal pair ovate or narrowly ovate, 20-35 × 12-20 cm, with stalks 2-3 cm, pinnate (or 2-pinnate with ultimate pinnules 1 or 2 pairs); lateral pinnules 3-6 pairs, lanceolate, 8-15 × 1.5-3 cm, shortly stalked or sessile, base cuneate, rounded-cuneate, or subtruncate, somewhat unequal, apex long acuminate or caudate-acuminate; terminal pinnule larger than lateral pinnules, sometimes bifid. Pinnae of second pair pinnate or trifoliolate. Distal pinnae simple and shortened, lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, 10-17 × 2-3 cm, margins somewhat irregularly serrate, teeth fine and sharp, cartilaginous. Hydathodes slightly thickened, extending to tips of teeth and fused with teeth. Sori extending to 2/3 of veins.

Forests; 1600-3600 m. Chongqing, Gansu, Heilongjiang, Henan, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [India, Myanmar, Nepal].