Plants 50-70 cm tall. Rhizome erect, short, 1-1.5 cm in diam., apex with black-brown, entire scales. Fronds clustered, dimorphic; stipe pale straw-colored or castaneous, 30-45 cm × ca. 2 mm, firm, glabrous. Sterile fronds: lamina 1-pinnate, triangular-ovate in outline; pinnae 2-4 pairs, sometimes digitate, basal 1 or 2 pairs often forked, opposite, slightly decumbent, shortly stalked, remainder sessile, simple, narrowly lanceolate, 9-23 × 1.5-2.5 cm, base narrowly cuneate, margins cartilaginous and obtusely serrate, apex acuminate or acute and serrate. Fertile fronds: pinnae 2-5 pairs, basal pair often 2-forked, lower ones stalked (3-5 mm), upper ones sessile, linear, sometimes linear-lanceolate, 20-25 × 0.8-1 cm, sterile margins serrulate. Lamina pale green, thickly leathery when dried, glabrous, sterile pinnae sometimes with grayer lines along midvein adaxially, midvein abaxially convex, straw-colored, veins abaxially conspicuous, simple or forked.

● Dense forests along valleys; near sea level to 900 m. Hainan.