Nephrodium sparsum D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nepal. 6. 1825;

Plants 50-70 cm tall. Rhizome erect or obliquely ascending, short, rhizome and stipe base with abundant lanceolate, entire, brown scales. Fronds caespitose; stipe pale castaneous-brown or dark stramineous or amber above, 20-40 cm, scales absent from top of stipe and rachis; lamina ovate-oblong or deltoid-ovate, 30-45 × 15-25 cm, bipinnate to tripinnate below in large plants, not narrowed to base, apex long acuminate; pinnae 7-9 pairs, opposite or subopposite, slightly oblique, shortly stalked, basal pair largest, deltoid-lanceolate, slightly falcate, 10-18 × ca. 10 cm, apex caudate-acuminate, remaining pinnae lanceolate; pinnules 13-15 pairs, alternate, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, base broadly cuneate, usually asymmetrical, basiscopic pinnule of basal pair longer than others, 6-8 cm, ca. 2 cm wide at base; segments oblong, apices obtuse and with several acute teeth, sparsely serrulate. Lamina subpapery, both surfaces glabrous. Sori on middle of veinlets; indusia orbicular-reniform, entire.

Forests, by streams; 100-2000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Jiangxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].