Dryopteris gymnopteridifrons Hayata, Icon. Pl. Formosan. 8: 148. 1919; Abacopteris gymnopteridifrons (Hayata) Ching; Cyclosorus gymnopteridifrons (Hayata) C. M. Kuo; C. pustulosus Copeland; D. glandulosa C. Christensen; Polypodium urophyllum Wallich ex Hooker & Baker var. uniseriale Hooker; Thelypteris gymnopteridifrons (Hayata) C. M. Kuo; T. pustulosa (Copeland) C. F. Reed.

Plants 80-120 cm tall. Rhizomes long creeping, with dense brown lanceolate scales. Fronds remote; stipes 28-80 cm, bases scaly, distally with dense short hairs, stramineous; laminae broadly ovate or ovate-oblong, 40-80 × 15-30 cm, 1-imparipinnate; lateral pinnae 3-8 pairs, rarely more, sessile, oblique distally, proximal pair shorter, subopposite, distal ones alternate; middle pinnae oblong-lanceolate, 15-30 × 3.5-5.5 cm, rounded-cuneate at bases, entire or serrate along margins, shortly caudate at apices; pinnae distally slightly smaller, terminal pinna of similar shape as middle ones, slightly larger, not symmetrical at bases and long stalked. Veins visible adaxially, obviously raised abaxially, costae grooved adaxially, veinlets parallel to each other, veinlets oblique distally, proximal pair joining into a triangular areole, distally every pair joining with excurrent veinlet forming subsquare or rectangular areoles. Laminae greenish when dry, papery, adaxially with appressed short hairs along costal grooves, elsewhere glabrous, abaxially with sparse short hairs along veins, occasionally with 1 or 2 hairs and slightly foveolate on intercostal areas. Sori orbicular, attached on middle of veinlets and arranged in 2 rows between costules and not confluent; indusia small, shortly hairy, sporangia also hairy.

W. C. Shieh & J. L. Tsai (Fl. Taiwan, ed. 2, 1: 394. 1994) included Pronephrium gymnopteridifrons within P. asperum (C. Presl) Holttum (Blumea 20(1): 112. 1972; Goniopteris aspera C. Presl, Tent. Pterid. 183. 1836, based on Polypodium asperum C. Presl, Reliq. Haenk. 1: 24. 1825, not Linnaeus (1753); Abacopteris aspera (C. Presl) Ching; Dryopteris presliana Ching; Thelypteris aspera (C. Presl) K. Iwatsuki).

Dense forests by streams in valleys, sparse forests on slopes; 100-500 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Philippines].