Athyrium aridum Ching; A. austro-occidentale Ching; A. bambusicola Ching; A. filix-femina (Linnaeus) Roth var. deltoidea Christ, p.p.; A. filix-femina var. fissidens Christ (1905), not Döll (1855); A. nitidum Ching; A. oxyphyllum (Wallich ex Hooker) T. Moore ex Beddome var. funebre Christ, p.p.; A. praticola Ching; A. remotisorum Ching & H. S. Kung; A. remotum Ching; A. yaanense Ching.

Fertile fronds 30-100 cm; stipe stramineous, shiny, slightly longer than lamina, ca. 2 mm in diam.; lamina bipinnatipartite to tripinnatipartite, ovate, up to 48 × 35 cm, base hardly narrowed, apex acuminate; pinnae ca. 12 pairs, basal pinnae opposite or subopposite, upper pinnae alternate, slightly ascending, with stalk 3-4 mm; basal pinnae broadly lanceolate, up to 15 cm × ca. 4 cm at middle, base slightly narrowed, pinnate (bipinnatipartite), apex shortly acuminate; pinnules ca. 15 pairs, anadromous, alternate, separated from each other, spreading, shortly stalked (stalk 1-1.5 mm), ovate-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 1.8-2.2 × 0.8-1.2 cm at base, base inequilateral, broadly cuneate, pinnatipartite, apex obtuse; pinnule segments 5 or 6 pairs, slightly ascending, oblong, ca. 5 × 2.5 mm, margin dentate, apex obtuse-rounded; second basal and upper pinnae similar to basal pinnae, gradually shortened, base not narrowed or broadened; veins visible adaxially, clearly visible abaxially, pinnate in segments, lateral veins 3 or 4 pairs, oblique, simple. Lamina herbaceous when dried, dark green, glabrate on both surfaces; rachis and costae stramineous, glabrate abaxially, with spines adaxially in distal part of lamina and pinnae. Sori elliptic or orbicular, 3-5 in lower segments, 1 in upper segments; indusia brown, oblong, sometimes orbicular-reniform or J-shaped, membranous, erose and ciliate at margin, persistent. Perispore surface without folds, with granular ornamentation.

Athyrium delicatulum is very similar to A. deltoidofrons but differs by the pinnules prominently anadromous and glabrate.

● Coniferous forests, bamboo forests; 700-3000 m. Chongqing, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, SE Xizang, Yunnan.