Rhizome long-creeping, 1-2 mm diam., covered in dark red-brown hairs up to 4 mm long, giving rise to stipes at intervals of 2-8 cm. Stipes 4.5- 30 cm long, 0.7-2.5(3) mm diam., dark purple-red to red-brown, bearing abundant red-brown nonglandular hairs (to 3 mm long) and shorter redbrown glandular hairs. Laminae narrowly ovate to ovate, (6)15-55(65) × (2)5-25 cm, pinnate or bipinnate at apex, tripinnate at base (occasionally bipinnate in very small specimens). Rachis red-brown at base becoming pale yellow-brown only near apex, densely covered in red-brown hairs of various lengths with some widely-spaced non-glandular hairs up to 3 mm long but the majority shorter (< 1 mm) and either glandular or non-glandular. 1ry pinnae in 17-25 pairs + pinnatifid apex, opposite or subopposite, the lower arising at (30)40- 70(90)°, upper ones at nearly 90°, longest ones below middle 2.5-19 cm; lowest pairs 3.5-12 cm apart, middle ones 1-5 cm; upper ones parallel sided or narrowly ovate, lower ovate or triangular. 2ry pinnae ovate or narrowly ovate, longest 0.8-4 × 0.4- 1.7 cm, those on the lower pinnae decreasing markedly in length along the pinnae. 3ry pinnae 0.3-0.8 × 0.15-0.5 cm, slightly incised, bearing 1-3 pairs sori (deeply incised in very large specimens). Veins reaching the margin at a tooth apex. Hairs: brown bristly hairs (mostly 0.25-0.5 mm) abundant on margins and both surfaces (especially upper) of lamina (often rather pale in young specimens), interspersed with pale glandular and non-glandular hairs on lamina undersurface (few also on top surface); pinna midribs similar to rachis with longer red-brown bristly hairs and some red-brown short glandular and non-glandular hairs. Sori in pairs on ultimate pinnules, originating away from margin, unprotected. Spores very pale under light microscope, perispores of interconnecting flattened projections, (25)28-35(39) × (17)18-21(23) urn (5 populations). See Fig. 1A, 3C, 7A, and 18F.

n = 52

n = 52

n = 52