Rhizome ascending or erect, ca. 3 cm in diam., with scales at apex. Fronds caespitose. Stipes stramineous, 15-25(-30) cm, base dark brown and densely clothed with scales, sparser above; scales dark brown, narrowly lanceolate, ca. 10 × 1 mm, entire. Lamina lanceolate, 20-30 × 8-15 cm, truncate, pinnate or rarely bipinnate, apex acuminate. Pinnae 10-15 pairs, alternate or opposite, lanceolate, 5-8 × 1-1.5 cm, with ca. 2 mm stalks or sessile, usually cordate, undulate or shallowly serrate, or pinnately lobed or divided, apex acuminate. Costa raised abaxially and grooved adaxially, veins pinnate; veinlets simple, nearly inconspicuous abaxially and obscure adaxially, terminating just inside margin. Lamina papery, gray-green, abaxial surface of rachis and costa with both bullate and hairlike scales. Sori usually in 1 row on either side of costa, rarely in 2 irregular rows, nearer to costa than to margin, orbicular; indusium reniform, entire. n = 123.

Subtropical broad-leaved evergreen forests. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang [Japan].