Angiopteris Hoffm.

Plants terrestrial (sometimes rooted in stream beds). Rhizomes erect, ascending, or creeping. Laminae 1-4-pinnate, usually evenly divided throughout, occasionally with irregular division of some segments (probably a result of stress during lamina development). Pulvini present at bases of segments, at naked nodes on stipe in juvenile fronds, generally absent at maturity, but present at maturity in some species with creeping rhizomes; primary pinnae alternate or subopposite; veins free, simple or bifurcate, false veins absent or present between veins of varying length and extending from margins toward costae; uniseriate simple hairs present, not glandular, scales peltate but generally appearing basifixed due to asymmetry. Sori borne on veins, marginal, submarginal, or medial; sporangia ± free, fused at base into receptacles, sessile, bilateral, each with 2 opposing rows of sporangia, those opening via a vertical slit on inner surface of each valve, apertures labiate, with distinct patch of specialized thick-walled cells at apex of each sporangium. Spores trilete (rarely monolete or alete), exospores granular to spinulose, spines simple or branched. 2n = 80, 160.