Athyrium sinense Rupr.

Rhizomes short, erect, apex densely clothed with dark brown, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate scales. Fronds caespitose; fertile fronds 35-92 cm; stipe blackish brown at base, upward stramineous, 10-26 cm, base 1.5-2 mm in diam., similarly densely scaly, upward with sparse small scales; lamina 2-pinnate, oblong-lanceolate, 25-65 × 15-25 cm, base slightly narrowed, apex shortly acuminate; pinnae ca. 15 pairs, basal pinnae subopposite, upper pinnae alternate, ascending, sessile, basal 2 or 3 pairs of pinnae slightly shortened; basal pinnae oblong-lanceolate, 7-12 × ca. 2.5 cm, base equilateral, truncate or ± rounded, pinnate, apex long acuminate; pinnules ca. 18 pairs, basal pinnules narrowly deltoid-oblong, 8-10 × 3-4 mm, base inequilateral, truncate on acroscopic side, basiscopic side broadly cuneate, decurrent and adnate to wing of costa, pinnatilobate, apex obtuse; pinnule segments 4 or 5 pairs, ± rounded, margin with several short teeth; veins visible on both surfaces, pinnate in pinnules, lateral veins ca. 7 pairs, 3-forked or pinnate in basal segments, forked or simple in upper segments. Lamina herbaceous when dried, pale greenish brown, glabrate on both surfaces; rachis and costae stramineous, with sparse small scales and squarrose-glandular hairs abaxially. Sori mostly oblong, occasionally J-shaped or horseshoe-shaped, inframedial on basal acroscopic veins, 6 or 7 pairs per pinnule, uniseriate on each side of midrib; indusia brownish, oblong, occasionally J-shaped or horseshoe-shaped, membranous, erose at margin, persistent. Perispore surface without folds.

It is a temperate plant. In northern China it grows in forests between 750-2,100 m altitude.

The young fronds are used as a potherb.