Plants 30-40 cm tall. Rhizome erect, short, 0.5-1 cm in diam., apex with black-brown scales. Fronds clustered (10-20), distinctly dimorphic; stipe castaneous-brown, upward straw-colored, or sometimes dark straw-colored, shiny, 15-25 cm; rachis castaneous-brown, shiny, adaxially grooved with pale straw-colored, narrowly winged margins; sterile fronds: stipe shorter, ca. 1 mm in diam., glabrous, apex with thin narrow green wings; lamina 2-pinnatipartite, 3-forked, ovate-triangular in outline, 10-15 × 6-8 cm; lateral pinnae 1 pair, next to apical pinnae, falcate-triangular, 4-6 × 3-4 cm, both sides or basiscopically with 3-5 pectinate lobes (sometimes at base basiscopically only with 1 lobe), basal basiscopic one largest, simple or ± pectinate; terminal pinna largest, broadly lanceolate, 10-15 × 3-4 cm, sessile, base cuneate, middle sometimes with 4-8 pairs of pectinately arranged segments, margins acutely dentate, apex acuminate; segments oblong, somewhat falcate, 10-15 × 6-8 mm, contiguous, apex obtuse; fertile fronds 1- or 2-pinnate or sometimes subdigitate, pinnae linear, margins entire or slightly undulate, sterile margins serrate, apex acuminate; midvein abaxially convex, shallowly grooved and with spines, pale straw-colored; veins conspicuous on both surfaces, oblique, often forked, with irregular short raised false veins between veins. Lamina pale green, herbaceous when dried, glabrous. 3n = 87.

Forests, on wet rocks near creeks; 200-700 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, NE and SE Guizhou, Hainan, Jiangxi, Taiwan [Japan (Ryukyu Islands), N Vietnam].