Plants terrestrial. Rhizomes erect or ascending, short, dictyostelic; scales reddish brown, thin, lanceolate, margins entire. Fronds monomorphic, clustered; stipe purplish black, lustrous, rounded proximally, upward with single longitudinal groove adaxially, base scaly, glabrous distally; lamina 2- or 3-pinnate, ovate to oblong in outline, apex acuminate. Pinnae many, oblique, lanceolate, somewhat stalked, 2- or 3-pinnate, herbaceous to somewhat leathery, abaxially white or yellow farinose, adaxially glabrous, base subequilateral, apex acuminate. Pinnules many, anatropous, base inequilateral, usually adnate to costae, margins serrate. Veins of ultimate segments free, obscure, pinnately branched or not. Indusia absent. Sori along veins but not to vein tips, without paraphyses. Spores dark colored, globose-tetrahedral, perispore reticulate with irregular ridges. x = 29(30).

About 20 species: tropical Africa, America, and Asia; one species (introduced) in China.

(Authors: Zhang Gangmin (张钢民); Tom A. Ranker)