Stems creeping. Leaves to ca. 3(-30) m; petioles borne 2-7 mm apart, 10-35 cm; sterile pinnae on 1.5-3.5 cm stalks, triangular to lanceolate, 2-3-pinnate, 6-15 × 5.5-15 cm; ultimate segments lanceolate, lobed or divided proximally; lobes usually acute at tip and directed toward apex; segment apices long-attenuate to acute; segments not articulate to petiolules, not leaving wiry stalks when detached; blade tissue pubescent abaxially with short, curved hairs. Fertile pinnae on 1-2 cm stalks, lanceolate-triangular, 2-3-pinnate, 5-18 × 4-14 cm; ultimate segments ovate to lanceolate, fringed with fertile lobes, otherwise similiar to sterile segments. Sori , indusium: false, pear-shaped scale, sporangia: in 2 rows, below the margin, maturity: late summer to early winter.

Diruetic (spores)

Flora of North America

The dried ripe spores are used in the treatment of gonorrhea, galacturia and edema.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 410, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.