Rhizome creeping or climbing, dark green, wiry, 2–5 mm diam., densely scaly; scales brown, erect, shiny, acuminate, persistent. Fronds separated, erect or frequently drooping, variable in size and shape, 15–55 cm long, membranous to herbaceous; stipe relatively short, glabrous with scales clustered at base. Lamina narrowing gradually at base, dull, dark green, variable in shape, simple and linear-lanceolate with pointed tip, or irregularly pinnately lobed with long terminal segment and 4–20 pairs of lateral lobes, each 2–10 cm long; scales sparse or absent on undersurface of central vein, small, narrow. Veins relatively obscure, branching to give usually simple network; areoles enclosing simple or once bifurcate free vein endings; submarginal veins with free endings. Sori round to oval, 1–2.5 mm diam., slightly sunken (showing as raised circle on upper surface), in 2 rows, each nearer margin than midvein.
GipP, EGL, EGU, WPro, HSF, Strz, HFE. Also Qld, NSW, Norfolk Is. New Zealand. Found in moist and shady forest gullies, on mossy limbs, tree-trunks and tree-ferns, mostly in 'jungles' of East Gippsland, but with occurrences further west in Tarra Valley area and Wilsons Promontory. Occasionally occurring on rocks or as ground cover, particularly on river banks.
