Tectaria fengii Ching & Chu H. Wang; T. gemmifera Ching & Chu H. Wang (1981), not (Fée) Alston (1939); T. gymnosora Holttum; T. hainanensis Ching & Chu H. Wang; ?T. simulans Ching.

Plants 0.6-1 m tall. Rhizome erect, short, stout, 1-1.5 cm in diam., scaly at apex and stipe bases; scales (dark) brown, (linear-lanceolate or) lanceolate, 6-8 mm, thickly membranous, entire, apices long acuminate. Fronds clustered; stipe deep stramineous to brown, 40-70 cm, 4-5 mm in diam., bases densely scaly, often clothed with brown articulate hairs, glabrescent upward, winged in upper half or very narrowly nearly to base. Lamina simple or pinnatisect to odd-pinnate, green to deep green, deltoid-ovate, 30-40 × 20-30 cm, base slightly cordate, herbaceous, both surfaces glabrous; rachises and costae dark stramineous, costa raised and pubescent on abaxial surface, main veins raised abaxially, glabrous adaxially but sparsely covered with light brown articulate hairs abaxially, rachises winged throughout; terminal pinna oblanceolate or oblong, 15-18(-25) × 5-10 cm, larger than lateral ones, base attenuate, narrowed into winged rachis, entire or 3-lobed, apex acuminate to caudate; lateral pinnae 1-3 pairs, subopposite, sessile, ovate-lanceolate, 15-18 × 3-5 cm, oblique, subentire, interval 4-6 cm, bases cuneate-attenuate, apices acuminate to caudate; basal pinnae rather large, often with a gemma, often forming broadly lanceolate basiscopic lobes; gemmae (when present) scaly, 1 or more, axillary on both sides of lamina from base to apex; rachises and costae deep stramineous, pubescent abaxially, glabrescent adaxially. Cross veins distinct, veinlets forming inconspicuous subhexagonal areoles, included veinlets simple or forked. Sori orbicular, terminal on included veinlets or anastomosing veins, in 2 irregular rows beside lateral veins, often contiguous-confluent at maturity; indusia brown, reniform, membranous, glabrous, entire, caducous.

The pinna shape of Tectaria fauriei varies greatly from lanceolate or broadly lanceolate to ovate or oblong. It usually bears one or more scaly gemma axillary on either or both sides of the lamina from the base to the apex. Ching and Chu H. Wang (Acta Phytotax. Sin. 9: 371. 1964) described plants without gemmae as T. hainanensis, but gemmae are present in the type specimen of that species.

Dense valley forests; 100-1000 m. Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [India (Assam), Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Malaysia (Peninsular), Thailand, Vietnam].