Plants up to 2 m tall. Rhizome prostrate, firm, ca. 1 cm in diam., woody. Stipe castaneous-brown at base, opaque, ca. 100 cm × 4 mm, firm, glabrous; lamina 2-pinnatipartite on either side, oblong-ovate; pinnae alternate, decumbent, sessile, basal pairs ca. 11 cm apart, falcate, narrowly triangular, ca. 40 × 15 cm, base oblique, apex long caudate; pinnae entire on acroscopic margin and apical 1/4-1/3 of basiscopic margin, deeply lobed on rest of basiscopic margin, with 6-8 gradually shorter segments; segments linear-lanceolate, basal ones ca. 13 × 1.8 cm, up to 2 cm apart, base oblique, sterile margins serrate, apex acuminate; veins distinct on both surfaces, spreading, sparse, 1-or 2-forked; lamina pale green, herbaceous when dried, glabrous; costae and rachises straw-colored, grooved on adaxial side, with few spines on raised edges.