Dryopteris discreta Ching & S. K. Wu; D. incisolobata Ching; D. nyalamensis Ching & S. K. Wu; D. nyalamensis var. angustipinnata Ching & S. K. Wu; D. qandoensis Ching; D. zayuensis Ching & S. K. Wu.

Plants 40-70 cm tall. Rhizome erect, densely scaly; scales broadly lanceolate, brown. Fronds caespitose; stipe 10-12 cm, clothed with scales at base; scales brown, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 1.5-2 cm × 2-5 mm, sharply dentate, subulate at apex; lamina oblong-lanceolate, 50-60 × 12-15 cm, widest at middle, bipinnatifid, gradually narrowed downward, apex acuminate; pinnae 18-25 pairs, oblique, lanceolate, base ca. 2.5 cm wide, apex shortly acute, middle pinnae up to 9 cm, basal pairs ca. 3 cm; segments 10-13 pairs, contiguous, ± spreading, oblong, ca. 1 cm × 4-5 mm, sparsely dentate, apex rounded-obtuse or truncate. Lamina herbaceous, clothed with narrowly hairlike, brown or brownish black scales or fibrillae on costa, lamina and costae with sparse, fibrillose, pale brown scales abaxially; veins pinnate, forked, evident on both surfaces. Sori in 2 regular rows between costa and margin; indusia ferruginous, orbicular-reniform, papery.

Abies forests; 2800-3900 m. Qinghai (Xunhua), Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Nepal, Pakistan].