Nephrodium yunnanense Baker, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1906: 11. 1906; Aspidium anastomosans (Hayata) Hayata; A. yunnanense (Baker) Christ (1909), not Christ (1898); Dryopteris anastomosans Hayata; Tectaria anastomosans (Hayata) C. Christensen.

Plants terrestrial, 1.5-2.55 m tall. Rhizome ascending, short, stout, densely scaly at apex and stipe bases; scales stiff, dark brown to castaneous, linear-lanceolate, entire, apices long acuminate. Stipes clustered, castaneous, glossy, 60-80 cm, 0.7-0.8 cm in diam. at base, glabrous. Lamina pinnatifid, dark green when dried, deltoid, 60-80 × ca. 50 cm, papery, base broadly cuneate, apex acuminate; rachises castaneous, glabrous adaxially and pubescent abaxially, with broad wings upward, costae and midvein castaneous to brown, with brown articulate hairs on both sides; pinnae 4-6 pairs, oblique, lower pinnae opposite, upper pinnae alternate, interval 6-8 cm; basal pinnae 30-35 cm, deltoid, stalks 4-5 cm, pinnatifid to broad wings along costae, lobes 8-10 pairs, sometimes with a pair of separate lobes, sessile, falcate-lanceolate, entire or undulate, 10-12 × 3-4 cm, alternate, interval ca. 1 cm; lateral pinnae broadly lanceolate, sessile, 25-30 × 7-8 cm, bases narrowed, apices acuminate, pinnatifid to broad wings along costae and forming falcate-lanceolate acute lobes, lower lobes decurrent and adnate to rachis. Veinlets forming copious subhexagonal areoles, included veinlets forked. Sori orbicular, terminal on veinlets, regularly beside main veins, near to main veins; indusia brown, orbicular, membranous, entire, often revolute, persistent.

Tectaria yunnanensis is similar to T. dubia, but it differs in the scaliness and color of the stipes and the lamina division.

Near streams in dense forests; 100-1400 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [NE Vietnam].