Tree fern; rhizome to 4 m tall, 4–8 cm diam., suckering from rhizome buds, with 1 bud near each stipe base. Stipe c. 20 cm long; stipe towards base with 0.5–1.5 mm long blunt spines, each spine bearing a caducous dull brown scale; scale c. 10 mm long and 1 mm wide; base thickened; margins fragile, sometimes setiferous; apex setose. Lamina to 100 cm long, thin; longest pinnae to 30 cm long; basal pinnae to 18 cm long; pinna rachis smooth, a few very narrow scales basally; pinnules to 5.2 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, deeply lobed; lobes at an angle of c. 60°, crenate, acute; veins to 7 pairs, those on fertile pinnules mostly forked; scales near bases of pinnule costae ovate; larger scales brownish, apically setiferous; smaller scales pallid, not setiferous; distal scales and those on costules small, bullate, sometimes with filiform apices; upper surface of costae bearing rather sparse antrorsely curved slender brown hairs. Sori medial, near the forks of veins; exindusiate, with few very small scales around receptacle; paraphyses longer than sporangia, distally flexuous, thickened at their bases.
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