[1] The genus Diplazium is in the family Athyriaceae, in the eupolypods II clade[2] of the order Polypodiales,[3] in the class Polypodiopsida.

[4] This plant is a large perennial fern with an ascending rhizome of about 50 cm high and covered with short rufous scales of about 1 mm long.

[6][7] They may have mild amounts of fern toxins but no major toxic effects are recorded.

[8] It is known as pakô ("wing") in the Philippines,[6] pucuk paku and paku tanjung in Malaysia, sayur paku or pakis in Indonesia, phak koot (Thai: ผักกูด) in Thailand, rau dớn in Vietnam, dhekia (Assamese: ঢেঁকীয়া) in Assamese, Dhenki Shaak (Bengali: ঢেঁকি শাক) in Bengali, paloi saag (Sylheti: পালই শাগ) in Sylheti, ningro in Nepali, dingkia in Boro and linguda in northern India, referring to the curled fronds.

[9][10] The fern species Diplazium esculentum is believed to have been introduced and naturalized in Hawaii and was first reported collected in 1910.