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Plants perennial, terrestrial, evergreen or summer-green. Rhizome short, erect or ascending, together with basal stipe often covered with scales; scales linear to ovate, rarely with hairs. Fronds caespitose, monomorphic or rarely nearly dimorphic; stipe stramineous to purplish brown, canaliculate adaxially, scaly; distal stipe scales sparser, similar to but smaller than basal stipe scales. Lamina linear-lanceolate, lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, lorate, or oblong, pinnate, bipinnatifid, or bipinnate, rarely finely divided and tripinnatifid or tetrapinnatifid; frond texture thinly papery, papery, or leathery, with lanceolate, subulate, linear, or ovate microscales abaxially and sometimes also adaxially, acroscopic base often auriculate, rarely auricles indistinct; rachis sulcate adaxially, with or without proliferous bulbils, rarely proliferous bulbils borne terminally on a prolonged flagelliform rachis; venation pinnate, free or rarely anastomosing to form 1 or 2 rows of areoles. Sori orbicular, terminal on veins of pinnae, sometimes abaxial or nearly terminal on veins, indusiate or rarely exindusiate; indusia orbicular, peltate, membranous, entire, erose, or irregularly toothed.
Petioles stout, with 4 or 5 vascular bundles, much shorter than the blades, beset with persistent, brownish, notably dimorphic scales, some broad and often toothed or cleft, others small, appressed, hair-like; blade scaly especially on the rachis and costae, otherwise glabrous or occasionally glandular, pinnate to subtripinnate, the principal pinnae subsessile on a narrow, very shortly petiolulate base, the uppermost ones reduced and confluent; pinnae or pinnules spinulose-toothed, mostly subfalcate; veins obscure, free, mostly once-forked; sori borne on the veins in one or more rows on each side of the midrib; indusium peltate, rotund, persistent; ferns with stout, scaly, erect or short-creeping rhizomes and clustered, firm, evergreen lvs. 135, cosmop.
Terrestrial or lithophytic ferns. Rhizome short, erect, densely scaly; scales variable, becoming erose. Fronds tufted. Stipe densely scaly at the base. Lamina 1-3-pinnate, rarely simple (non-Australian species), often coriaceous; rachis sometimes bearing proliferous buds near the apex; ridges on the adaxial surface of the primary rachis not open to admit the grooves of the secondary rachises; ultimate segments sharply pointed and also sometimes with marginal teeth; veins free. Sori rounded, dorsal or subterminal on veins, indusiate, rarely exindusiate; indusium peltate, persistent or caducous. Spores monolete, ellipsoidal to globose.
Sori dorsal on veins, indusium peltate (rarely absent); sporangia stalked, annulus incomplete, vertical. Spores bilateral, ± oblong, us. tuberculate. Rhizome short, branched, ascending, paleate; stipites densely tufted, paleate. Lamina anadromic, pinnate to decompound, segs us. aristate. Mainly terrestrial ferns with some 180 spp. of wide distribution.
Terrestrial ferns. Rhizomes erect, very scaly. Fronds 1-3-pinnate, scaly; ultimate segments usually pointed; veins free. Sori round, borne on veins in one row either side of midrib; protected by peltate indusia, or indusia 0. Spores monolete.
Fronds elongate, basal pinnae not much enlarged on basiscopic side; rachis often bearing a bud.
