Aspidium ciliatum Wallich ex Bentham, Fl. Hongk. 455. 1861; Dryopteris calcarata (Blume) Kuntze var. sericea (J. Scott ex Beddome) C. Christensen; D. ciliata (Wallich ex Bentham) C. Christensen; D. pseudocalcarata C. Christensen; Lastrea calcarata (Blume) T. Moore var. ciliata (Wallich ex Bentham) Beddome; L. calcarata var. sericea (J. Scott ex Beddome) Beddome; L. ciliata (Wallich ex Bentham) Hooker (1857), not Liebmann (1849), nor C. Presl (1851); L. sericea J. Scott ex Beddome; Nephrodium calcaratum (Blume) Hooker var. ciliatum (Wallich ex Bentham) Baker; N. calcaratum var. sericeum (J. Scott ex Beddome) Alderwerelt; Polypodium tenerum Roxburgh; Thelypteris ciliata (Wallich ex Bentham) Ching; T. sericea (J. Scott ex Beddome) C. F. Reed; T. tenera (Roxburgh) C. V. Morton ex Fraser-Jenkins; Trigonospora ciliata (Wallich ex Bentham) Holttum.

Plants 20-40 cm tall. Rhizomes short and erect, subglabrous. Fronds clustered; stipes 8-25 cm, dark brown, with sparse ovate-lanceolate scales, distally stramineous, throughout densely grayish white acicular hairy; laminae lanceolate, 12-15 × 7-8 cm, slightly narrowed to bases, pinnate-pinnatifid, pinnatifid-acuminate at apices; pinnae ca. 15 pairs, proximal pair slightly shortened, opposite, reflexed, others ascending distally, alternate, sessile, lanceolate, 3.5-5 × 0.8-1.5 cm, broadly cuneate at bases, pinnatilobate to 1/4-1/3 of distance to costae, pinnatifid-acuminate at apices; segments 9-12 pairs, subtriangular-lanceolate, 1.5-4 × 1-1.5 mm (basal acroscopic one to 6 mm), entire, obtuse at apices. Veins evident on both sides, 4-6 pairs of veinlets per segment, proximal pair arising above base of costules, acroscopic veinlet reaching bottom of sinus, basiscopic one reaching margin above sinus, sometimes 2 veinlets joined and elongated to bottom of sinus. Laminae dark brown when dry, firmly papery, glabrous on both intercostal areas, with dense acicular hairs on both sides of rachises and costae, sparsely setaceous along both sides of veinlets. Sori orbicular and attached on proximal parts of veinlets and close to costules; indusia orbicular-reniform, dark brown, thickly membranous, with dense acicular hairs, persistent. Spores trilete.

Wetlands in mountain valleys, rock crevices by streams; 100-900 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].