Rhizome erect or short-creeping, to 10 mm diameter; rhizome scales ovate to lanceolate in outline, apex long tapering to a point, margin (sub)entire, to 7 mm long, persistent,. monomorphic, tufted or sometimes shortly spaced, erect, 35–90 cm long, proliferous at pinnae apices, the terminal lobe similar to the laterals but usually larger, thin. Stipe 10–50 cm long, grooved, pale brown, with scales to 6 mm long at the base. Lamina (narrowly) ovate to lanceolate in outline, pinnate; pinnae in 1–5 pairs, ovate to oblong in outline, apex notched with an abrupt and wedge-shaped sinus and a gemma in the notch, base unequally wedge-shaped, margin with rounded teeth, 6–23 x 2.4–5.5 cm, sessile or very shortly petiolate, hairless on both surfaces; veins forked; rhachis similar to stipe. Sori many and usually closely parallel on the ascending veins, almost reaching the costa but ending quite a way from the margin, brown and oblong, to 2.5 cm long; indusium whitish, membranous, entire, linear, persistent.

emarginatum: notched at the apex.

Moist forests, usually in deep shade; less often in semi-deciduous forest.

See African distribution.

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

Terrestrial.