Rhizome 5-7 mm in diam., densely covered with scales; scales dark-brown, lanceolate, base broad, margin denticulate, apex acuminate. Stipe straw-colored or castaneous, (5-)30-40 cm, glabrous. Lamina pinnatisect, ovate-lanceolate in outline, (11-)40-50 × (4-)20-25 cm, base slightly narrowed, apex acuminate. Segments 20-25 pairs, lanceolate, 10-13 × 1.5-2 cm, connected along rachis by a 1.5-4 mm wide wing, margin shallowly crenate to subserrate, apex acuminate; basal 1 or 2 pairs of segments often deflexed. Veins forming 1 or 2 rows of areoles along each side of rachis and costa. Lamina thickly papery, green, both surfaces glabrous or pubescent, abaxial surface scaly. Sori orbicular, medial.

The collection Purdom 32 (Tai-pei-shan) was identified by R. C. Ching as a dwarf "northern form" of Polypodiodes amoena. It has fronds with the stipe ca. 5 cm, lamina ca. 11 × 4 cm, and ca. 16 pairs of segments with obtuse apices.

Polypodium daochengense Ching & S. K. Wu (Acta Phytotax. Sin. 31: 574. 1993), described from Sichuan, was compared in the protologue to P. amoenum (Polypodiodes amoena), where it was differentiated primarily by its smaller size.

Epiphytic on rocks or on tree trunks; 1000-2500 m. Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].