Terrestrial fern. Rhizome short, erect; apex covered with long, narrow, brown scales. Fronds tufted, 30–90 cm tall; stipe base scurfy, with numerous narrow, brown scales 4–7 mm long; lamina outline broadly deltoid, 15–50 cm long, 12–35 cm wide, usually coriaceous, bipinnate at base for 1 (sometimes 2) divisions, pinnate for 3–5 pairs of subopposite divisions, then apical portion deeply pinnatifid, c. 1 /3 length of lamina; midrib of pinnae above flanged, usually with acute 'teeth' 0.5–1.5 mm long at junction of each pinnule midrib; pinnules narrow (those of median pinnae 15–30 mm long, 3–5 mm wide), shortly acute; veins simple or once forked, free. Sori marginal, continuous; apex of pinnules sterile, dentate, 2–4 (–5) mm long, broadly acute.
Grows on shady forest floors. Mainly grows in coastal Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla) forests and, although not common, it is more common than Pteris zahlbruckneriana (de Lange & Murray 2003).
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