Dryopteris apicisora Ching & Y. T. Hsieh; D. cathayana Ching & Z. Y. Liu; D. lacera (Thunberg) Kuntze subsp. peninsulae Kitagawa; D. lacera var. peninsulae Tagawa; D. neolacera Ching; D. shensicola Ching & Y. T. Hsieh.

Plants up to more than 50 cm tall. Rhizome suberect, short, stout. Fronds caespitose; stipe pale brown, up to 24 cm, grooved, densely clothed with linear-lanceolate or ovate-oblong, dark brown, membranous, acuminate scales, sparsely clothed with castaneous-brown scales above; lamina oblong or narrowly ovate-oblong, 13-38 × 8-20 cm, bipinnate, base ± cordate, apex shortly acuminate; pinnae 12-20 pairs, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, base asymmetrical, shortly stalked, apex falcate-acuminate, lower pinnae ca. 11 × 4.5 cm, obvious; pinnules or segments up to 15 pairs, oblong, apex obtuse with short, sharp teeth, basal several pairs of pinnules ± auriculate, with shallowly undulate teeth, upper segments subentire at base, with teeth at margins, and low sharp teeth at apices. Lamina papery; costae stramineous, sparsely scaly; scales linear, readily deciduous; veins of pinnules or segments pinnate, conspicuous. Sori confined to upper pinnae, in 1 row on each side of costule; indusia orbicular-reniform, subentire, imperfectly covering sori at maturity; epispore papillose.

● Shaded, wet grasslands. Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, NE Yunnan.