Rhizome shortly creeping, coarse, covered in dark brown scales. Fronds close together, erect, 15–45 cm long; young fronds dark rose-pink. Stipe long, relatively stout, dark red-brown to black, slightly roughened; scales scattered towards base, narrow, brown. Lamina more or less fan-shaped, forking repeatedly into fingerlike lobes, the lowermost being shorter; rachises dark, densely covered in pale hairs. Pinnules very shortly stalked from lower 'corner', close-set, asymmetric, almost oblong, 3–15 mm long, 2–6 mm wide; soft hairs abundant on lower surface, scattered above; lower margins almost straight and entire, upper and outer margins gently rounded and finely toothed when sterile. Sori 3–18, mostly more than 10, small, close together along upper and outer margins, in notches between lobes, covered by broadly oblong to circular reflexed leaf flap which is covered with numerous small, pointed brown hairs.