Nephrodium gymnophyllum Baker, J. Bot. 25: 170. 1887; Dryopteris sakuraii (Rosenstock) Tagawa; D. subtripinnata (Miquel) Kuntze var. sakuraii Rosenstock.

Plants 50-65 cm tall. Rhizome creeping, short, apex along with base of stipe scaly; scales dark brown, oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate. Fronds approximate; stipe 30-40 cm, stipe as well as rachis and costa pale stramineous tinged with green, glabrous or sparsely scaly; lamina pentagonal, 25-40 cm, at least as wide as long, tripinnate-pinnatipartite; pinnae 5-8 pairs, alternate or subopposite, oblique, falcate, stalk up to 5 cm, basal pair largest, deltoid-lanceolate, 10-25 × 6-18 cm, base asymmetrical, apex caudate-acuminate, basal basiscopic pinnule largest and longest, basal acroscopic pinnule equal to second one; pinnules 10-12 pairs, stalked, deltoid-oblong, basiscopic ones longer than acroscopic ones; ultimate segments sessile, base decurrent, apex obtuse, entire or serrate, more distal pinnae oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate. Lamina herbaceous; veins pinnate, simple. Sori terminal on apices of veinlets, nearer to margin than to costa; indusia brown, orbicular-reniform, thin, persistent.

Forests; 300-700 m. Anhui, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].