Plants terrestrial. Stem erect or ascending, 4-17 cm, 1.5-2 mm in diam. at middle, together with leaves ca. 1 cm wide, 2-4 times dichotomously branched, upper portion often with bulbils. Leaves dense or sparse, obliquely angled upward, nearly flat abaxially, not lustrous, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, conspicuously contracted toward base, straight, 4-9 × 1.1-1.5 mm, thinly papery, both surfaces glabrous, midrib slightly raised abaxially, indistinct adaxially, base cuneate, decurrent, sessile, margin straight and not crispate, upper portion often with sparse small teeth or subentire, apex acuminate. Sporophylls homomorphic with trophophylls; sporangia slightly visible from outside of sporophylls, yellowish, reniform.

The leaves of Huperzia kunmingensis are elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate apically, flat abaxially, thinly papery, and not lustrous.

● Streamsides in valleys; 1200-2100 m. Guangxi, W Guizhou (Panxian), Yunnan (Kunming, Malong, Pingbian).