Rhizome ascending, stiff, 3-6 cm in diam., apex densely scaly; scales reddish brown, linear-lanceolate, 1-1.5 cm × 0.5-2 mm, upper parts threadlike and tortuous, thin and soft. Fronds approximate, (0.6-)0.8-1.2(-1.5) m; stipe ochraceous or amber, 45-75 cm, 3-5 mm in diam., base tufted with scales similar to those on rhizome, scales sparser upward; lamina 3-or 4-pinnate, dull dark brown when dried, ovate-deltoid, 40-70 × 30-50 cm, papery, base rounded, apex acuminate, caudate to abruptly narrowed and acuminate, rachis glabrescent; pinnae (5-)8-12 pairs, alternate, with to 3.5 cm stalk, obliquely spreading; lowest pinnae deltoid, to 30 × 20 cm, base rounded, apex acuminate with ca. 10 pairs of stalked primary pinnules, these lanceolate or oblong (basal basiscopic one often longer, to 20 × 6 cm), base cuneate, apex acuminate and caudate; primary pinnules ca. 10 pairs, shortly stalked, ovate-lanceolate, to 4.5 × 2 cm, base rounded or broadly cuneate, apex acute or obtuse; secondary (and tertiary) pinnules obviously separate from each other, subsessile, oblong or obliquely rhomboid, to 12 × 6 mm, base cuneate, apex obtuse or acute, margin shallowly pinnatifid, lobe tipped with 2 or 3 mucronate sharp teeth; upper pinnae gradually reduced; axes and veins of ultimate segments with minute brown linear scales abaxially. Sori small, terminal (or subdorsal) on veinlets, 4-6 pairs per ultimate segment, closer to midvein than margin; indusia brown, firmly membranous, often denticulate on margin.
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