Bowringia Hooker (1853), not Champion ex Bentham (1852).

Tree ferns, terrestrial. Stem erect, very stout, dictyostelic, woody, apex scaly; scales rufous, linear, membranous, acuminate. Fronds clustered in terminal crown, slightly dimorphic; stipe with basal part scaly; lamina pinnate, elliptic-lanceolate in outline, leathery, abaxially with some small scales along costa and veins; pinnae opposite or alternate, subsessile, entire, linear to narrowly oblong; basal pinnae slightly shorter; veins free, simple or 1- or 2-forked, except for costal row of subtriangular areoles; fertile pinnae somewhat shorter, margin sometimes irregularly lobed; rachis grooved adaxially. Sori borne on costal veins, abundant, covering whole abaxial surface of pinnae when mature, indusium absent. 2n = 66.

The monotypic genus Brainea is isolated from the rest of the family.

One species: widely distributed in tropical Asia.

(Authors: Wang Faguo (王发国), Xing Fuwu (邢福武); Masahiro Kato)