Cheilanthes sieberi subsp. sieberi

Rhizome short, creeping or semi-erect; scales narrow, pointed, with dark, central stripe when mature. Fronds clustered near tip of rhizome, variable in size, stiffly erect; fertile fronds 5- 40 cm tall, 2–3 (rarely 5) cm wide at broadest point; sterile fronds less than 10 cm tall, rarely found. Stipe shorter or longer than lamina, fine, brick-red to brown, bare except for a few scales at base. Lamina narrow, oblong to ovate, mainly 2-pinnate (but a few lower pairs of primary pinnae may be once more divided) mid-green to dark green; rachises and midvein undersurface with scattered multicellular hairs, some very short, appressed and glandular, and few scales. Pinnae well separated along rachis, short; pinnules deeply lobed with short terminal segments. Sori partly enclosed by deeply reflexed margin of each small lobe of pinnule; spores spherical, black.