Woodwardia kempii Copeland, Philipp. J. Sci., C, 3: 280. 1908; W. harlandii Hooker var. takeoi (Hayata) Masamune; W. heteropinnata B. S. Wang; W. takeoi Hayata.

Rhizome long creeping, dark brown, 4-7 mm in diam., densely scaly; scales brown, lanceolate, 4-5 mm, membranous, entire, apex acuminate. Fronds distant, subdimorphic, fertile fronds larger and more deeply dissected than sterile fronds; stipe 30-70 cm, base dark brown, densely scaly, upward sparsely scaly and glabrous, brown-stramineous; lamina brown when dry, deltoid-ovate, 13-26 × 11-28 cm, subleathery, glabrous, base rounded-truncate, apex acuminate; sterile lamina pinnatifid, basal lobes largest, lanceolate, 6.5-10 × 1-2.5 cm, base slightly narrowed, united with broad wing, margin serrulate, apex acuminate; fertile lamina bipinnatifid; pinnae 5-7 pairs, opposite, oblique or basal pair subspreading, pinnatifid; basal pair largest, elliptic-lanceolate, 11-20 × 4.5-10 cm, base narrowed, sessile or shortly stalked, ca. 3 cm apart from above, pinnatipartite to broad wing of costa, apex acuminate; middle lobes lanceolate or linear, 8-9 × 1.2-1.5 cm, margin irregularly undulate or lobed, entire, or with irregular and distant serrae, basal lobes much shortened or rounded-auriculate; veins inconspicuous but midvein prominent on both surfaces, anastomosing with 1 row of long, narrow areoles along costa, secondary veins anastomosing with 2 rows of areoles, free near margin. Sori linear, 5-17 mm, borne in costal, rachis, or midvein areoles; indusium dark brown when mature, papery.

Forests, damp forests, along ridges; 400-800 m (in Taiwan). Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, N Taiwan [Japan].