Abstract: Athyrium is one of the largest,complex and extremely difficult genera in taxonomic treatment.The area of China,Himalaya and Japan is the geographic distribution center of the genus.In fact,the species in this genus sensu stricto (Ching) are the remainders after other genera have been separated from the family or the genus Athyrium sensu lato.They are somewhat like a "mixed stew",but not a natural monophyletic group.Some of the subgeneric unites are very active in evolution and with large number of related species,while some others are isolated or unique.There-fore,the size of the infrageneric groups are not equal.Presence or absence of folds on perispore surface is an important character for the subgeneric classification.There are more than 300 Chinese Athyrium species name published,they have been preliminarily treated as 117 species with a number of varieties and hybrids.They are suggested to be classified into 14 sections and 15 series in present paper.

Key words: Taxonomy, Pteridophyte, Athyriaceae, Athyrium, China