Plants 15-20 cm tall. Rhizomes short, suberect, with dense dark brown lanceolate scales at apices. Fronds clustered; stipes 3-7 cm, stramineous; laminae 8-14 × 3.5-6 cm, bases slightly narrowed, apices acuminate; pinnae 6-12 pairs, sessile, proximal 2 or 3 pairs slightly shortened; middle ones oblong-lanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate, 2-3 × ca. 1 cm, bases truncate, lobed 1/2-2/3 toward costae, apices acuminate or acute; segments 6-10 pairs on middle pinnae, oblong, 2-3 × ca. 2 mm (basal acroscopic one slightly longer), entire, obtuse at apices; veinlets 3-5 pairs, proximal pair anastomosing with an excurrent veinlet running to sinus membrane. Laminae herbaceous, grayish green or brownish green when dried, adaxially with dense short acicular hairs along costae, with sparse acicular hairs along veins and shorter hairs between veins; abaxial surface with dense short thin acicular hairs and golden to orange small glands. Sori small, orbicular, medial; indusia densely hairy. Sporangia bearing golden to orange glands on stalks. Spores with long to short wings.

Cyclosorus subacutus differs from C. dentatus in being much smaller plants and having glandular hairs abaxially, but in other aspects, the two species are quite similar. Knapp (Ferns Fern Allies Taiwan, 2011) did not record this species for Taiwan.

● Semi-open places by forest margins; near sea level to 100 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, ?Taiwan, S Zhejiang.