Rumohra simulans Ching, Sinensia 5: 54. 1934; Arachniodes cantilenae Sa. Kurata; A. centrochinensis Ching; A. chingii Y. T. Hsieh; A. dayaoensis Y. T. Hsieh; A. decomposita Ching; A. elevatas Ching; A. gizushanensis Ching; A. guanxianensis Ching; A. jiangxiensis Ching; A. jinfoshanensis Ching; A. lushuiensis Y. T. Hsieh; A. pianmaensis Ching; A. yinjiangensis Ching; A. yunnanensis Ching.

Rhizome creeping, succulent at growing apex, 1-3 cm in diam., densely scaly; scales pale brown, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, to 8 × 1-2 mm, apically attenuate or hairlike, thin and soft. Fronds remote or approximate, 0.7-1.2(-1.4) m; stipe stramineous, 38-60 cm, 4-6 mm in diam., base and lower part densely scaly as rhizome, upward scales diminishing to glabrescent; lamina (3 or)4(or 5)-pinnate, dull pale green when dried, ovate-deltoid, 32-60 × 25-40 cm, firmly herbaceous or papery, base rounded or cordate, apex acuminate (or attenuate), rachis glabrescent or sparsely with linear scales; pinnae ca. 10 pairs, alternate, with to 3 cm stalk, obliquely spreading; lowest pinnae deltoid-lanceolate, to 35 × 18 cm, base rounded-cuneate, apex acuminate; primary pinnules ca. 16 pairs, with to 1.2 cm stalk, lanceolate, (basal basiscopic ones slightly longer, to 14 × 4 cm), base broadly cuneate, apex acuminate; secondary pinnules with to 0.5 cm stalk, deltoid-oblong or distally oblong-lanceolate, base cuneate, apex acuminate or obtuse; tertiary (and quaternary) pinnules shortly stalked or sessile, ovate-oblong or rhombic, ca. 1 × 0.5 cm, base acroscopically cuneate and slightly auriculate, basiscopically cuneate, apex acute or obtuse, margin sharply serrate often with aristate teeth; upper pinnae gradually reduced; axes and veins of ultimate segments with sparse minute brown lanceolate and ± appressed linear scales abaxially. Sori terminal on veinlets, 1-4(-6) pairs per ultimate segment, submarginal; indusia brown, membranous, ciliate or erose, often fugacious.

Slopes in forests or bamboos, on shaded wet rocks, valleys, thickets or under shrubs by streams; (500-)900-2300(-2800) m. Anhui, Chongqing, SE Gansu, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Japan].