Plants 50-90 cm tall. Rhizome ascending, short, ca. 1 cm in diam., apex densely scaly; scales dark brown, brown at margin, linear-lanceolate, ca. 3 mm. Fronds clustered; stipe straw-colored, 30-50 cm, 2-4 mm in diam., with dark brownish scales, glabrous, adaxially grooved; rachis similar; lamina 2(or 3)-pinnatipartite, ovate to ovate-triangular in outline, 25-45 × 17-24(-30) cm; lateral pinnae 3-6(-9) pairs, basal pairs opposite, 4-8 cm apart, decumbent, rarely slightly decumbent, basal pair sessile or shortly stalked, often with a basiscopic pinnule near base similar to main part of pinna but smaller; upper pairs sessile, base attenuate, broadly cuneate, pectinate and forming narrow wings along costae, apex linear-caudate, 2-3(-4.5) cm, acuminate; terminal pinna similar but wider and stalked (2-4 cm); segments 20-30 pairs, alternate or opposite, conjoined or ca. 1 mm apart (fertile segments up to 2 mm apart), decumbent, falcate, broadly lanceolate, usually basiscopic segments longer than acroscopic segments, basal pair or several pairs of segments shortened at base, entire, apex obtuse; costae abaxially prominent, straw-colored, glabrous, grooved adaxially, with needlelike flat spines on both sides of groove, and few spines on costa; veins conspicuous on both surfaces, oblique, 2-forked at base, basiscopic vein of segment arising from rachis, and acroscopic vein arising from base of costa, opposite veins at base oblique up to margin of incision; lamina light green to pale green, papery when dried, glabrous (rarely glabrescent when young). Indusia gray-brown, linear, membranous, persistent. n = 29, 2n = 58, 87, 89.

Fraser-Jenkins (Taxon. Revis. Indian Subcontinental Pteridophytes, 109. 2008) includes Pteris fauriei within P. khasiana (C. B. Clarke) Hieronymus, which would extend the distribution to Bangladesh, NE India, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, and Vietnam.

Pteris medogensis Ching & S. K Wu (Fl. Xizang. 1: 71-72, t. 16, fig. 1-4. 1983) and P. bomiensis Ching & S. K. Wu (loc. cit.: 72, t. 19) appear to fall within the range of variation accepted for P. fauriei. Pteris wulaiensis C. M. Kuo (Bot. Bull. Acad. Sin., n.s., 30: 143. 1989) is an apomictic diploid intermediate between P. fauriei and P. bella and is presumed to be of hybrid origin (see Knapp, Ferns Fern Allies Taiwan, 371-372, 479. 2011).

The authors have not seen material of Pteris fauriei var. rigida Hieronymus (Hedwigia 55: 347. 1914), described from China.

Acidic soils in forests along valleys; sea level to 800 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, S Guizhou, Hainan, S Hunan, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Xizang, SE Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, N Vietnam].