Aerial axis up to 5 dm. long, pend., rarely forked. Lf-like lobes up to 3 cm. long and 6 mm. wide, about oblong, truncate to subacute at tip, us. mucronate, subcoriac., dark green. Sporangia sessile at apex of fertile lobes, lying ║ lobe, with two lf-like lobes arising immediately below and extending beyond sporangium which is 4-6 mm. long, brown, coriac., subacutely pointed.

Rhizome: dichotomously branched, brittle, 2-3.5 mm diameter, covered with dark brown rhizoids which are often absent from herbarium specimens. Aerial shoot: developing over one to many years, but eventually terminating in a small appendage 0.1-0.5 times the length of the largest leaves, simple, erect, suberect, or pendulous, (5-)20-80(-120) cm long, triangular in cross-section, leaves and sporophylls spirally arranged. Leaves: (3-) 5-6(-7) per cm of stem, coriaceous, brittle, one surface deep green and shiny occasionally with a few stomata towards the proximal end, other surface dull green covered with stomata; shape variable often on same shoot, oblong, lanceolate, falcate, or ovate, (0.6-)1-2(-3) cm long (excl. mucro), (2.5-) 4-6 (-9) mm broad; apex of leaf very variable often on the same plant, acute, obtuse to truncate, mucronate; mucro 1-2 mm long. Sporophylls: developed in regular or irregular zones or throughout most of the shoot except for the lowermost part, equal to or slightly shorter than the leaves; 5-7 per cm of shoot. Synangium: 4-8 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm high at point of attachment, biconic, persistent. Spores: yellow, released in a mass, anisopolar, bilateral, monolete, foveolate, concavo-convex, (67-)79 (-92) ,mcm long, (27-)37(-45) mcm broad (longitudinal plane). See Figs 1, 5, 9, Table 1.