2n = 64

Vegetative reproduction by stolons. Rhizome clad in dense black paleae. Fertile and sterile fronds similar. Fronds more or less erect, harsh; lamina 12-26 cm long. Stipes and raches bearing black or dark brown scales which are more persistent at the bases of stipes but are often shed, leaving tubercles; usually glabrescent, rarely pubescent. All pinnae, except occasionally the lowest pair, adnate to the rachis (see Fig. 1a); sometimes the lower, always the middle and upper, decurrent. Pinnae c. 17-32 pairs or subopposite. Terminal pinna 0.7- 2.1 cm long 1/8-1/25 of frond length). Longest pinnae c. 1.5-5.0 cm long, 4-6 mm wide. Distance between middle pinnae 1-5 mm (0.2-1.25 × pinna width). Middle pinnae rounded to acute at apex. Sori in one row on each side of the pinna midrib, sometimes a second row partly to almost completely developed; discrete. Indusium c. 1 mm long, often kidney-shaped; sorus sometimes larger, to 2 mm when mass of sporangia protrudes.