Distinguished from other subgenera by the combination of seasonal leaves, long-creeping stems 1--3 mm diam., pinnate-pinnatifid blades, veins often forked and meeting margins above the sinuses, scales along the abaxial costae, and by the proximal pinnae not or only slightly shortened. x = 35.

Thelypteris palustris and T . confluens (Thunberg) C. V. Morton from the Southern Hemisphere constitute the subgenus Thelypteris , according to R. E. Holttum (1971).