Rhizomes short, erect, apex densely clothed with brown, lanceolate scales. Fronds caespitose; fertile fronds 60-80 cm; stipe dark brown, upward pale green-stramineous, 25-40 cm, 2.5-3 mm in diam., base similarly scaly, upward glabrate; lamina 2-pinnate or 2-pinnate-pinnatifid, narrowly oblong, 30-40 × 14-20 cm at middle, base slightly narrowed, apex acuminate; pinnae ca. 15 pairs, alternate, ascending, with short stalk 2-4 mm; middle pinnae lanceolate, 8-10 × 2-2.5 cm at base, base subequilateral, subtruncate, pinnate, apex caudate-acuminate; pinnules 12-16 pairs, basal pinnules opposite, upper pinnules alternate, ascending, separate from each other, subsessile; basal pinnules larger, deltoid-oblong, 1-1.2 cm × 3-4 mm, base inequilateral, truncate, auriculate, parallel to rachis on acroscopic side, cuneate on basiscopic side, cut to 1/2, apex obtuse; pinnule segments 5 or 6 pairs, acroscopic segments longer, basal acroscopic segment largest, entire or with few teeth at apex; upper pinnules similar to basal pinnules but gradually smaller, lower pinnules subsessile, upper pinnules decurrent and adnate to wing of costa; veins inconspicuous adaxially, visible abaxially, pinnate in pinnules, lateral veins 2 or 3 pairs, oblique, simple. Lamina herbaceous when dried, pale yellow-green, glabrate on both surfaces; rachis and costae stramineous abaxially, with sparse short hairs at base, with needlelike spines on adaxial side at base of costa, costule, and midrib. Sori oblong or elliptic, on acroscopic veins, usually 1 per segment, biseriate on both sides of costules, costular; indusia brown, oblong or elliptic, membranous, entire, persistent, often partly overlapping costules. Perispore surface without folds.

Mixed forests; 2200-3100 m. W Sichuan, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, Nepal].