Rhizome short-creeping, densely clothed with pale brown hairs. Fronds clustered, undivided, usually spreading or suberect, 4–15 cm long, 1–2.5 mm wide, flattened, smooth or with slightly scabrid margins; sporogenous fronds narrower than sterile ones; sporogenous heads 3–16 mm long, 1–1.5 times as long as wide, at first pectinate but eventually non-pectinate and pinnately-flattened; segments 2–7 mm long; margins membranous, uneven with scale-like extensions and scattered hairs. Sporangia not mixed with hairs.
In W.A. it grows on exposed wet cliffs, in organic, white sands around lakes and on creek banks in shaded gullies; in N.S.W. it occurs below 1000 m and is common on damp rocks and banks around waterfalls, banks of streams or in crevices at the bases of sandstone cliffs and is usually associated with mosses, liverworts and small herbs.
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