Stems decumbent to erect, much branched from base, stout, 4--8 mm diam. (including hardened, persistent leaf bases); scales often bicolored, dense, broadly lanceolate to linear, to 6 × 2 mm. Leaves strongly tufted, deciduous; sterile leaves spreading, 3--20 cm; fertile leaves erect, 5--25 cm; petioles, costae, and costules glabrous. Petiole green to straw-colored, dark brown only on proximal 1/8 or less, ca. 1 mm wide when dry, collapsing and strongly furrowed; scales bicolored or ± concolored, becoming sparse distally. Blade deltate to ovate-lanceolate, all 2--3-pinnate, herbaceous, thin and translucent when dried, hydathodes superficial. Segments of sterile leaves oblong to fan-shaped, bases cuneate, distal 1/2--1/3 of each segment regularly dentate and often more deeply incised every 2d and 4th tooth; segments of fertile leaves ascending to erect, strongly differentiated from those of sterile leaves, linear, 3--12 × 1--2 mm; fertile segments revolute, covering sporangia. Sporangia in sori that coalesce at maturity. 2 n = 60.
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