Abstract: The genus Athyrium is a larger one in the class Leptos-porangiatae. There are about 300 species which mainly distribute in the warm temperate zone of the world. In the region of southwest China, Himalayas and Japan, there are more species than in other regions and the morphology of plants and the shapes of the sori here are various, so it is difficult to classify them. The auther of this paper classifies the genus Athyrium into two subgenera which include five sections and ten series, according to the characteristics of rhizoma (creeping, erect or adscending), the degree of frond pinnation (pinnate, bipinnate or tripinnate), the shapes of scales, the hairs types, whether there are spines on the rhachis of fronds, pinna and pinnules or not,the types of serrature, spores morphology. At the same time,the characteristics of venation (catadromous, anadromous or opposite), the shape of sori and whether the sori have indusia or not and their shapes, etc. are used.