Plants terrestrial or epilithic. Rhizome short-decumbent, closely branched, to 9 mm in diameter, set with roots, closely set persistent stipe bases and scales, scales concolorous or bicolorous, concolorous scales chartaceus, castaneus to ferrugineus, bicolorous scales with a thinly crustaceous, atrocastaneus central region and narrow chartaceus, ferrugineus margins, sessile, subulate, entire, apex terminates in a subulate cell or an elliptic thin-walled cell, to 10 mm long, to 0.8 mm wide. Fronds crowded, to 8 per plant, erect, to 980 mm long; stipe rigid, castaneus, proximally terete, becoming sulcate in the upper half, sulcus flat-bottomed, to 800 mm long, to 7 mm in diameter, proximally closely set with scales similar to those on rhizome, higher up sparsely set with scales and hairs, scales chartaceus, ferrugineus, adnate, subulate to filiform, entire to shallowly repand, apex terminates in a subulate or oblong thin-walled cell, to 7 mm long, to 0.5 mm wide, hairs pluricellular, uniseriate, apical cell narrowly elliptic, thin-walled, soon becoming glabrous, sulcus closely set with 2 and 3-celled hairs, apical cell elliptic to oblong-obtuse, appearing glandular, to 0.2 mm long; lamina anadromous, firmly herbaceous to coriaceus, pentagonal, to 4-pinnate, to 500 mm long, to 580 mm wide, with up to 15 petiolated pinna pairs; rachis and lower order axes rigid, castaneus, adaxially sulcate, axes sulci confluent, abaxially initially sparsely set with ferrugineus, multicellular hairs, glabrous later, sulci set with hairs similar to those on the stipe; pinnae petiolate, petiole to 54 mm long, alternate, widely spaced proximally, more closely spaced distally, to 3-pinnate, basiscopically developed, inaequilaterally broadly ovate to triangular, to 365 mm long, to 230 mm wide, with up to 17 petiolated pinnule pairs; pinnules petiolate, petiole to 12 mm long, alternate, spaced to slightly overlapping, to 2-pinnate, narrowly ovate to linear-acute, acroscopic pinnule on the basal pinna to 85 mm long, basiscopic pinnule on the basal pinna to 200 mm long, with up to 9 petiolated segment pairs; segments sessile or petiolate, petiole to 2 mm long, alternate, spaced, to 1-pinnate, triangular to oblong-acute, to 35 mm long, to 25 mm wide; ultimate segments sessile, opposite to alternate, narrowly elliptic, oblong-obtuse, or hastate, crenate, somewhat revolute when fertile, to 12 mm long, to 5 mm wide, glabrous adaxially and abaxially. Venation pinnately branched, free, often immersed adaxially, or obscure, abaxially obscure or evident, terminating in the margin in the sinuses between the teeth, apices often enlarged in fertile segments. Sori appear continuous, but confined to the enlarged free vein apices, or sporadically along a commissure formed by a few adjacent vein endings; receptacle with 3 to 4-celled simple, hair-like paraphyses; sporangium short-stalked, simple, 3-seriate below capsule, capsule obovate in lateral view, with (19-)21(-26) indurated annulus cells, epistomium (5-)5(-6)-celled, hypostomium (5-)6(-6)-celled, stomium with 5 to 7 narrow cells with conspicuously thickened walls; indusium membranous, near-marginal, continuous, entire to erose, to 0.6 mm broad. Spores 64 per sporangium, brown, tetrahedral-globose, trilete, granulose with an overlaying stellate-reticulate network, exospore (60-)66.3(-72) (m in equatorial diameter. Figure 17D & E.