Dryopteris taiwanensis C. Christensen, Index Filic. 297. 1905; Aspidium lobulatum Christ (1904), not Blume (1828); D. subhispidula Rosenstock; Sphaerostephanos taiwanensis (C. Christensen) Holttum ex C. M. Kuo; Thelypteris taiwanensis (C. Christensen) K. Iwatsuki.

Plants 60-120 cm tall. Rhizomes suberect to erect, including bases of stipes with brown ovate-lanceolate scales. Fronds clustered; stipes 10-20 cm, dark stramineous; laminae broadly lanceolate, 50-100 × 20-30 cm, bases abruptly narrowed, apices acuminate; pinnae 30-45 pairs, proximal 4-6 pairs abruptly shortened and auriculate with lowest 1 pair subtuberculate; middle pinnae linear-lanceolate, 10-18 × 0.8-1.2 cm, bases truncate, apices long acuminate; lobed ca. 1/2 toward costae; aerophores beneath pinna bases slightly swollen; segments 25-35 pairs, 3-5 × 2-2.5 mm, basal acroscopic ones longer, subrectangular, entire, obtuse at apices; veinlets 5-8 pairs per segment, proximal pair anastomosing, next 0.5-1 pair running to sinus membrane. Laminae papery, brownish green when dried, both surfaces with short acicular hairs along costae and veins, adaxially with short hairs and yellow sessile spherical glands throughout. Sori orbicular, medial or inframedial; indusia shortly hairy and glandular. Sporangia bearing sessile spherical glands on capsules. Spores yellow to light brown, densely echinulate. 2n = 72.

Streamsides, wet places in dense forests; 200-700 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Taiwan [S Japan].