Floating form: stipe up to 30 cm long, hairless; leaflets broadly obovate, outer margin entire to irregular, hairless, under surface often with thin dark streaks. Dry land form: fronds clustered, stipe up to c. 15 cm long, leaflets outer margins irregularly incised or wavy, hairless. Sporocarps: in compact clusters of 3-10 at the nodes, dark brown, 2-3.5 mm long, 2-4 mm high, 0.5-1.5 mm thick, saddle-shaped, upper side deeply concave, lower side rounded, lateral surfaces concave, oblong-elliptic in vertical cross-section; hairless when mature; lateral ribs not visible in mature specimens; lower tooth absent, upper tooth present, acute; pedicels adnate, a peduncle-like base branching dichotomously, peduncle up to 6mm, arising from the axil or the base of the stipe.

Recognizable by its large number of sporocarps arranged in tight clusters

ephippiocarpa: "saddle-shaped fruit", referring to the lateral view of the sporocarp.

Seasonally flooded areas, lake edges, streams and pans, or streams that dry up in the dry season.

See African distribution.

Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Aquatic, terrestrial.