Rhizomes short, erect, apex densely clothed with dark brown or red-brown, linear-lanceolate, fibriform-tipped scales. Fronds caespitose; stipe blackish brown at base, upward stramineous, as long as lamina, base densely scaly, upward glabrate; lamina 2-pinnate, narrowly ovate or deltoid-ovate, base not narrowed, apex abruptly narrowed, long acuminate; pinnae 9-12 pairs, lower pinnae subopposite, upper pinnae alternate, ascending, stalked, lanceolate, middle pinnae 10-15 × 2-4 cm, base equilateral, rounded-truncate and slightly narrowed, pinnate, apex long acuminate, sometimes caudate; pinnules ca. 15 or 16 pairs, alternate, subspreading, sessile, lower pinnules oblong-lanceolate or oblong, 1.2-2.2 cm × 4-10 mm at middle, base inequilateral, truncate and auriculate on acroscopic side, cuneate on basiscopic side, margin often shallowly lobed or toothed, apex acute; veins inconspicuous adaxially, visible abaxially, pinnate in pinnules, lateral veins ca. 7 pairs, oblique, lower veins forked, pinnate in auriculate lobes and segments. Lamina papery when dried, greenish brown, glabrate on both surfaces; rachis stramineous, sometimes pale purplish red, costae usually pale red-purple or brown-stramineous abaxially, glabrate or glandular hairy, with subulate spines on adaxial side at base of costae or costules. Sori oblong or shortly linear, 3-7 pairs per pinnule, biseriate on both sides of costule, inframedial; indusia brownish, oblong, sometimes J-shaped at pinnular base, membranous, margin entire or irregularly toothed, erose or occasionally ciliate, persistent. Perispore surface without folds. 2n = 160.

Valley forests, damp areas at streamsides; 500-2700 m. Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, S Henan, Hubei, Hunan, W Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].