Polypodium angelicifolium Schumach., as 'angelicaefolium'
Aspidium angelicifolium (Schumach.) Mett. ex Kuhn
Tectaria nigrescens (Mett. ex Kuhn) C.Chr.
Polypodium tenifrons Hook.
Tectaria nicklesii Tardieu

Rhizome erect or shortly creeping; rhizome scales lanceolate in outline, apex gradually tapering to a point, margin sparsely set with minute teeth, 3–5 x 0.5–0.8 mm, brown. Fronds monomorphic, shortly spaced or tufted, herbaceous to coriaceous. Stipe 20–30 cm long, strawcoloured, with few brown scales 5–6 x 0.5–0.8 mm at base, a few more scales in adaxial groove into rhachis, and higher up when young with dense short, gland-tipped hairs. Lamina 3-pinnatifid, triangular in outline, 20–32 x 20–28 cm; pinnae in 1–5 pairs, the lowermost opposite, stalked for up to 5 cm, falcate, 15–18 x 7–8 cm; terminal pinna deeply lobed at its base, the lobes gradually decreasing in size; basiscopic pinnule of lowermost pinna more developed than acroscopic one, to 12 cm long and almost free, other basiscopic pinnules gradually decreasing; ultimate segments broad, shallow, rounded; free veinlets potentially present in all areoles of lamina, including areoles parallel and near middle of rhachis and costa; veinlets variable from short bent to long curved to T-shaped and minutely branching; with septate, glandular hairs to 0.5 mm long along margin of lamina and on vascular axes. Sori median in most pinnules of lowest pinna, round, 1.2–1.5 mm in diameter, smaller in more distal parts of lamina; indusia often falling off.

Moist forest.

Africa, Comoro Isl., Madagascar, Principe, São Tomé.

Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Dem. Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko), Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan and South Sudan, Tanzania , Togo, Uganda.

Terrestrial.