Pseudo-corm 3-lobed, harsh to touch; bud scales black, 3-toothed. Leaves 5-33, needle shaped, round in transverse section, 15-120 x 0.5-1 mm, flaring basally to form a wing up to 2 mm wide on either side of the sporangium. Ligule translucent, subulate to elongate-deltate, c. 2 mm long. Velum absent. Sporangia roughly oval, c. 2.5 x 2 mm. Megaspores 0.45-0.59 mm in diameter, white to greyish white when dry, shiny, distal surface clearly but shallowly reticulate, proximal surface reticulate but less regular and less clearly defined.

stellenbossiensis: this species was first found in Stellenbosch Flats in Western Cape.

Sandy soils in or around seasonally flooded depressions or pans, dying back in the dry summer.

See African distribution.

South Africa.

Terrestrial.