Rhizome long-creeping, slender, with narrow Tectaria -like scales, not clathrate. Fronds spaced; vascular structure of rhizome and stipes as in Tectaria. Lamina of mature plants either deltoid-pentagonal or somewhat elongate; in almost all cases basal pinnae fully pinnate, their basal basiscopic pinnules in some species bearing leaflets of the fourth order; ultimate leaflets almost always asymmetric at their bases, basiscopic base narrowly cuneate; venation in most species free, in a few species anastomosing but not forming regular, narrow costal areoles, free veins absent from areoles; cylindric glands, of the kind universal in Ctenitis, absent. Sori usually round; indusia reniform, in some species very small or absent; spores bearing thin, translucent wings; base chromosome number n=41.