Pteris indochinensis Christ; P. platysora Baker.

Plants 1-1.5 m tall. Rhizome ascending, robust, ca. 3 cm in diam., woody, apex with black-brown scales. Fronds clustered; stipe dark straw-colored and slightly lustrous, castaneous-brown near base, firm, 60-90 × 0.5-0.7 cm, sparsely scaly; scales brownish black, caducous; lamina 1-pinnate, ovate-oblong in outline, 50-80 × 20-30 cm; pinnae 6-14 pairs, opposite or sometimes subopposite, decumbent, linear-lanceolate, 16-20 cm, base cuneate, margin entire, slightly undulate, and cartilaginous, apex acuminate; lower pairs of pinnae sterile, ca. 2.5 cm wide, stalk ca. 1 cm; pinnae 4-6 cm apart, basal pair sometimes with a short lateral pinna; upper pinnae fertile, 1-1.5 cm wide, shortly stalked; veins conspicuous, midvein abaxially convex, dark straw-colored, veins oblique, prominent on both surfaces, sparse, simple or forked at base; lamina gray-green to brown-green, without luster, thinly papery when dried, glabrous; rachises light brown. Indusia pallid or gray-brown, linear, entire.

Dense forests along valleys or streams; 200-800 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou (Dushan, Jiangkou), Hainan (Lingshui), Hunan (Jiangyong, Qianyang, Yizhang), Jiangxi, Yunnan (Honghe), S Zhejiang (Taishun) [Malaysia, Vietnam].