Polypodium lacerum Thunberg, Fl. Jap. 337. 1784; Aspidium filix-mas (Linnaeus) Swartz var. lacerum (Thunberg) Christ; A. lacerum (Thunberg) Swartz; Nephrodium lacerum (Thunberg) Baker.

Plants 60-80 cm tall. Rhizome erect or obliquely ascending, short, stout. Fronds caespitose; stipe stramineous, much shorter than lamina, densely clothed with brown or ferruginous, membranous, entire or sharply serrate scales throughout rachis, basal scales large, ovate-oblong, up to 2 cm, apex acuminate; lamina elliptic to oblong, 40-70 × 15-30 cm, once pinnate-pinnatifid; pinnae ca. 10 pairs, spreading, broadly lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, shortly stalked, apex long acuminate, lower pinnae barely shortened, upper pinnae fertile, withering after spores released; pinnules narrowly ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, up to 2 × 0.5-1 cm, basal ones often free, margin serrate, apex acute. Lamina papery to leathery; rachis with lanceolate or linear-lanceolate scales, small scales persisting on abaxial side of costa; veins pinnate, lateral veins of pinnules impressed adaxially. Sori confined to upper pinnae; indusia orbicular-reniform, entire.

The identity of Aspidium lacerum var. obtusum Christ (Bull. Soc. Bot. France 52(Mém. 1): 39. 1905), described from Hubei, is not known as the authors have not seen the type.

Upland open forests, rocky slopes; 1600-2500 m (in Taiwan). Heilongjiang, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, C and NC Taiwan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].