[4] This deciduous fern has a creeping rhizome and a tuft-shape array of fronds.

The spore-bearing sori on the undersides of the fertile pinnae are variable in shape, being "oblong, hooked, J-shaped, or horseshoe-shaped".

[2] The Latin specific epithet niponicum means "relating to Japan (Nippon)".

It thrives in many kinds of shady garden conditions and produces thick colonies of gray-green fronds with reddish midribs.

pictum has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.