Rhizomes erect, shortly cylindrical, having many fleshy roots and annually producing 1 frond (15-)30-50(-70) cm tall. Sterile lamina: stalk 12-26(-36) cm, 3-4 mm in diam., glabrous; lamina subternate, tripinnatifid, subpentagonal, 10-25 × 15-25 cm, apex acute; basal pinnae much larger than upper ones, broadly deltoid-elliptic, 8-15 × 5-8 cm, with stalk 1.5-3 cm; pinnules broadly lanceolate, gradually narrowed toward acute apex; pinnule segments narrowly elliptic, margin sharply serrate or crenulate, apex acute or acuminate; basal segments fan-shaped, deeply lobed; stalks and costae sparsely lanuginose; veins pinnate, free. Sporophore arising 2-6(-10) cm above base of common stipe (or much below middle of common stipe), taller than sterile lamina, subdeltoid, bipinnate, 25-50 cm (stalk 20-40 cm, lamina 5-10 cm); sporangia globose, attached on both sides of axes. Spore surface with dense spinules or papillae forming reticulate pattern with fine granules. 2n = 270.