Plagiogyria adnata (Blume) Beddome var. distans Rosenstock; P. caudifolia Ching; P. hainanensis Ching; P. intermedia Copeland; P. japonica var. pseudojaponica (Nakaike) K. Iwatsuki; P. liangkwangensis Ching; P. pseudojaponica Nakaike.

Stipes (7-)20-40 cm on sterile fronds, 40-55 cm on fertile fronds, distally tetragonal, orbicular, or ovate in cross section; vascular bundle V-shaped; stipes and rachises glabrous; aerophores cushionlike, present only on stipe base. Sterile lamina pinnate, (12-)20-43 × (4-)10-20 cm, not glaucous, apically with a pinnalike segment; rachises abaxially semiterete, flattened, or grooved; pinnae (8-)12-20(-30) pairs; proximal pinnae sessile, base usually inequilateral, rounded, or cuneate, not deflexed to subdeflexed, slightly shortened; middle pinnae shortly stalked, sessile, or rarely acroscopically adnate to rachises, base rounded or cuneate; distal pinnae inequilaterally adnate to rachises, basiscopically decurrent to rounded; veins mostly paired at base or forked above base. Fertile lamina pinnate, 23-50 × 6-17 cm; rachises abaxially flattened or semiterete; pinnae 9-19 pairs, shortly stalked; proximal pinnae longest. Paraphyses many, brown or yellow. Spores yellow, with reddish tubercles. 2n = 260.

Forests, ravines, rocky places; 100-1800 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [N India, Japan (including Ryukyu Islands), Korea].