Aspidium phaeocaulon Rosenstock, Hedwigia 56: 345. 1915; Tectaria laciniata Ching.

Plants terrestrial, 56-140 cm tall. Rhizome erect, short, thick, ca. 1.5 cm in diam., densely scaly at apex and stipe bases; scales stiff, brown with narrow paler ciliate margins, linear-lanceolate, ca. 6 mm, apices acute. Fronds clustered; stipe dark brown to castaneous, ± glossy, 30-80 cm, 4-5 mm in diam. at base, glabrescent upward. Lamina bipinnate at base, deep green when dried, oblong-ovate, 45-60 × 30-40 cm, leathery, both surfaces glabrous; costa and costules raised and pubescent on both surfaces, castaneous; main veins paler, pubescent abaxially; terminal pinna acuminate and pinnate-lacerate, basal pinnae bipinnate to tripinnatifid; lateral pinnae 5-8 pairs, broadly lanceolate, subopposite but alternate upward, ascending, 15-20 × 3-5 cm, apices caudate, pinnate-lacerate, interval 2-3 cm; basal pinnules largest, triangular-lanceolate with stalk ca. 2 cm, pinnate or bipinnate with 2 or 3 pairs of separate lobes at base and pinnatifid-lacerate at apex; middle pinnules lanceolate, coadnate, pinnatifid-lacerate to lanceolate or triangular lobes. Veinlets forming subhexagonal areoles with cross veins, included veinlets forked. Sori large, terminal on included free veinlets, orbicular, in 2 irregular rows between adjacent main veins; indusia reflexed, small, pubescent, entire, persistent.

Near streams or in dense forests; below ca. 800 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan [Indonesia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Thailand, Vietnam].