Stipes slender, glabrous, 20-180 mm long. Pinnae variable, outer margin rounded, entire, floating forms with short or long brown suberous streaks between veins of under surface. Pedicels free, straight or curved c. 0.5-2.5 mm long, at an angle varying from 90o to 30o. Sporocarps very variable in shape, dark black and usually shiny, outer black layer of epidermis becoming detached and peeling off; lateral ribs not apparent; veins (seen interiorly) not anastomosing; raphe distinct, fully developed along entire sporocarp base; inferior tooth not developed; superior tooth just indicated as tiny dot on broadly cone-shaped base, visible only after detachment of epidermis; sori 4-5.
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