Gymnogramma subsimilis Hook.
Ctenitis subsimilis (Hook.)Tardieu
Dryopteris subsimilis (Hook.) C.Chr.
Dryopteris bicolor Bonap.

Rhizome creeping, very big; rhizome scales narrow, apex tapering, margin entire, brown, cells with thin walls. Fronds monomorphic, tufted, subcoriaceous. Stipe 30-40 cm long, striped, grooved, with few short brown hairs in the groove only. Lamina 2-pinnatifid to 3-pinnatifid at the base, deltoid-lanceolate in outline, 40 x 40 cm; pinnae regularly increasing, petiolate, each pinnule tapering, lower segment more developped; lowermost pinnae with long petiole, pinnules lobed, first pinnule divided to the costa into rounded slightly toothed lobes, middle pinnae lobed to about half their width, lobes rounded, entire, apical pinnae lobed, decurrent; rhachis and surfaces hairless, costae with short hairs on the upper surface, no glands; veins 2 or 4 forked. Sori long, oblong; exindusiate.

Terrestrial in forested ravines, 610-915 m.

See African distribution.

Benin, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Gabon, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria.

Terrestrial.