Athyrium guizhouense Ching; A. hirtirachis Ching & Z. Y. Liu (1984), not Ching & Y. P. Hsu (1974); A. pseudoepirachis Ching; A. sessile Ching; A. subpubicostatum Ching & Z. Y. Liu.

Rhizomes short, erect, apex densely scaly; scales dark brown, linear-lanceolate, fibriform-tipped. Fronds caespitose; fertile fronds 35-45 cm; stipe blackish brown, upward stramineous, 15-18 cm, 2.5-3 mm in diam. at base, base similarly densely scaly, clothed with brownish short glandular hairs in distal part; lamina 2-pinnate, narrowly subtriangular, 25-30 × 15-20 cm, base not narrowed, apex acuminate; pinnae 13-16 pairs, lower pinnae subopposite, upper pinnae alternate, subspreading, sessile, basal pinnae slightly shortened, frequently reflexed, narrowed at base; lower pinnae lanceolate, ca. 10 × 2.5-3 cm, base equilateral, truncate, apex long acuminate; upper pinnae falcate-lanceolate, gradually shortened upward, base slightly unequally sided, auriculate, cuneate and slightly decurrent on basiscopic side, pinnate, apex acuminate; pinnules 12-16 pairs, basal pinnules opposite, larger and alongside rachis; upper pinnules alternate, approximate, subspreading; basal 2 or 3 pairs of pinnules deltoid-oblong, 1-1.3 cm × 5-7 mm, base unequally sided, subtruncate, prominently auriculate on acroscopic side, cuneate and slightly decurrent on basiscopic side, margin crenate, apex acute; veins inconspicuous adaxially, visible abaxially, pinnate in pinnules, lateral veins ca. 7 pairs, lower veins forked, upper veins simple, basal acroscopic veins often pinnate. Lamina papery when dried, pale greenish brown, glabrate; rachis and costae stramineous, with dense brownish short glandular hairs on adaxial surface, with subulate spines on adaxial side at base of costa or costule. Sori oblong or shortly linear, 3-6 pairs per pinnule, biseriate on both sides of costules, inframedial; indusia brown, oblong or shortly linear, membranous, entire, persistent. Perispore surface without folds, reticulate. 2n = 80*.

"Athyrium kweichowense" (Ching in Y. L. Zhang et al., Sporae Pterid. Sin. 206. 1976) belongs here but was not validly published because no Latin description or diagnosis, or reference to such, was provided (Melbourne Code, Art. 39.1).

● Evergreen broad-leaved forests, bamboo forest margins; 200-2600 m. Chongqing, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan.