Japan Flora: Rhizomes creeping, branched, slender, 1-1.5 mm. across, sparsely scaly; fronds nearly glabrous to sparsely pubescent; stipes slender, 7-20(-25) cm. long, sparsely scaly, pale green, brownish toward base; scales membranous, pale brown, broadly lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 2-5 mm. long, to 2 mm. wide, entire; blades broadly lanceolate, 10-20 cm. long, 2.5-6 cm. wide, gradually acute to acuminate, slightly to scarcely narrowed toward base, simply pinnate, the rachis often sparsely scaly; pinnae 10-15 pairs, herbaceous, oblong-ovate to elliptic, 1-3 cm. long, 5-8 mm. wide, obtuse to rounded, ses­sile, spreading, crenate, the upper ones adnate to the rachis, the lower ones undivided, lobed, cleft, or rarely parted; sori often diplazioid.  Shaded places in lowlands and low mountains.

Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu. Korea, Ryukyus, Formosa, Philippines, and Malaysia. 

var. oldhamii (Hook. & Bak.) Ohwi. Plants smaller, with narrower fronds and fewer scales.

var. simplicifolium (Makino) Ohwi. Blades simply pinnate. Honshu (Izu Prov.), Shikoku, Kyushu; rare.