Deparia petersenii (Kunze) M.Kato

Plants evergreen. Rhizome slender, creeping, dark brown, 2-5 mm in diam., apex with dense red-brown broadly lanceolate scales; fronds distant to approximate, variable, smallest ca. 6 × 1 cm, large fronds up to 1 m × 25 cm; stipe usually dark brown at base, upward stramineous, 2-40(-50) cm, 1-3 mm in diam. at base, with sparse pale brown to red-brown (rarely dark castaneous), broadly to narrowly lanceolate scales and curly nodose short hairs; lamina variable, usually broadly ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, sometimes ovate, narrowly deltoid, or deltoid, up to 50 × 25 cm; free pinnae up to 10(-12) pairs below pinnatilobate apex, pinnae of small fronds often lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, sometimes deltoid, ca. 5 × 1 cm, with only 1 or 2 pairs of free pinnae; pinnae of large fronds spreading or slightly ascending, subfalcate or sometimes straight, basal pinnae sometimes reflexed, shortly stalked or sessile, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, up to 15 × 3.5(-4) cm, base broadly cuneate or subtruncate, wider on acroscopic side than on basiscopic side, sometimes slightly auriculate, basal lobes not reduced or slightly so, usually broader, pinnatilobate or pinnatipartite, apex acuminate or long acuminate; pinnae of small fronds mostly ovate-rhomboid, obliquely ovate, or narrowly ovate, margin entire, repand, or shallowly lobed, apex rounded or acute; smallest pinnae ca. 5 × 4 mm; pinna lobes up to 15 pairs, subspreading, oblong, ligulate-elliptic, or falcate, margin entire, shallowly repand, or crenate, apex oblique, truncate, or acute, sometimes obtuse; veins pinnate with less than 7 pairs of veinlets, veinlets ascending, simple or forked, visible on both surfaces. Lamina herbaceous, green or gray-green to light yellow-green when dry, darker adaxially; abaxial side of rachis, costae, and veins hairy with many red-brown or yellow-brown to light gray-brown, long, nodose hairs, lamina between veinlets glabrous or with pale white nodose hairs, sometimes with few, brown, lanceolate scales; adaxial side of rachis, costae, and veinlets with short pointed nodose hairs. Sori shortly linear or linear-oblong, rarely J-shaped, less than 6 pairs per lobe, inframedial from veinlet base or near veinlet base to 2/3-4/5 of veinlet length, sometimes medial, single or double on basal acroscopic veinlets, covering entire surface of pinna lobes when mature; indusia gray-white when young, later brown or yellow-brown, membranous, glabrous or with short nodose hairs, margin lacerate, flat, not incurved. Spores semicircular in equatorial view, elliptic in polar view, perispore prominent, hyaline, with long clavate and aculeate projections. n = 80 (4´).

It is a tropical and subtropical plant. In China it has been recorded between sea level to 2,500 m above sea level or higher. It is near streams in broad-leaved evergreen forests. It grows in partly shaded areas. In Argentina it grows between 100-1,000 m above sea level.

The young leaves or fronds are cooked and eaten in stir-fries, with other food or in soups. They are used fresh or dried.

Plants can be grown from spores.