Polypodium ensatum Thunberg, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 2: 341. 1794; Microsorum ensatum (Thunberg) H. Itô; M. reticulatum Ching ex L. Shi; Neocheiropteris ensata (Thunberg) Ching f. izuensis (Sa. Kurata & Satake) Serizawa; N. ensata var. izuensis Sa. Kurata & Satake; N. ensata f. monstrifera (Tagawa) Okuyama; N. ensata var. platyphyllus (Tagawa) Tagawa ex Ohwi; N. ensata f. undulatodentata Sugimoto; Neolepisorus cuneatus S. F. Wu; N. ensatus f. monstriferus Tagawa; N. ensatus f. platyphyllus (Tagawa) Ching & K. H. Shing; N. ensatus var. platyphyllus Tagawa; Pleopeltis ensata (Thunberg) Beddome.

Rhizome long creeping, 2-5 mm in diam.; scales pale brown, pseudopeltate, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 2-6 × 0.5-1.5 mm, membranous, clathrate, margin irregularly toothed, apex acuminate. Fronds not or slightly dimorphic, 3-6 cm apart; stipe 20-30 cm; lamina elliptic-lanceolate to broadly elliptic, 15-50 × 4-7 cm, papery, both surfaces with small adpressed scales when young, base cuneate, apex acuminate; veins copiously anastomosing, free included veinlets forked. Sori orbicular to oblong, arranged in (1 or)2-4 rows on each side of midribs, covered with small peltate paraphyses when young.

Epiphytic in lowland forests; 1400-1800 m (in Taiwan). Guizhou, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [NE India, Japan, S Korea, Philippines].