Lycopodium pulcherrimum Wallich ex Hooker & Greville, Icon. Filic. 1: 38. 1827; Huperzia pulcherrima (Wallich ex Hooker & Greville) Pichi Sermolli; H. setacea Trevisan; L. setaceum Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don (1825), not Lamarck (1789); Urostachys pulcherrimus (Wallich ex Hooker & Greville) Herter ex Nessel; U. setaceus Herter ex Nessel.

Lycophytes, medium-sized. Stems caespitose, mature branches pendulous, 1 to several times forked, 15-50 cm, main stems ca. 4 mm in diam., stem together with leaves ca. 6 mm wide. Leaves basally twisted and forming 2 rows. Trophophylls oblique upward and amplexicaul, not lustrous, linear, 0.8-1.1 cm × 0.5-1.5 mm, leathery, midrib distinct, base cuneate, decurrent, sessile, margin entire, apex acuminate. Strobili thinner than sterile part, not columniform, terminal on branches. Sporophylls sparsely arranged, linear, 6-9 × ca. 1 mm, midrib distinct, base cuneate, margin entire, apex acute. Sporangia yellowish, reniform, vertically bisected.

Phlegmariurus pulcherrimus is a typical Sino-Himalayan species. In China, it only occurs in S Xizang and W Yunnan, not in S or E China. There are mistakes about its distribution in China in some references. Sometimes, it is misidentified as P. cryptomerianus. It is questionable whether this species occurs in Thailand and Vietnam as reported by Ching (Acta Bot. Yunnan. 4: 124. 1982).

This species is similar to Phlegmariurus mingcheensis, the latter occurs in E, S, and SW China. The leaves of this species are linear, dense, ascending, and amplexicaul.

Epiphytic on tree trunks in forests; 1100-1900 m. S Xizang (Mêdog), W Yunnan (Gongshan, Lushui, Yingjiang) [Bhutan, India, Nepal].