Blechnum penna-marina subsp. alpina

Rhizome creeping to semi-erect, slender to coarse, tough. Fronds separated or crowded, erect, slightly leathery, 10–30 cm tall; sterile and fertile fronds dissimilar; young fronds typically bronze-pink. Stipe moderately long, red-brown; scales near base broad and papery. Sterile frond lamina linear to narrowly lanceolate, once pinnate, dark green to bronze-green; rachis scales scattered and narrower than those of stipe; pinnae close-set, attached by wide bases, shortly oblong, less than 1 cm long, margins entire, apices blunt; lower pinnae separate, smaller, almost triangular; terminal pinnae short. Fertile fronds stiffly erect, taller and with longer stipe than sterile fronds; pinnae numerous, separated, short and curved upwards, relatively coarse. Sori covering underside of lamina on each side of midvein.