Plants terrestrial. Rhizome erect or ascending, stout, densely covered with fibrous rootlets, with several fronds in a tuft. Stipe stiff, with setae. Lamina 1-pinnate, or rarely pinnatifid, usually lanceolate, rough in texture, internal cells large, cell walls thin, wavy; pinnae unequally sided, acropetally somewhat incised or lacerate; veins nearly flabellate, stout. Sori terminal on constricted segments or at margin of normal pinnae; involucres tubular or rarely obconic; receptacles long projecting, stout, sometimes dilated at apex.

About ten species: from India across Malesia to Polynesia; one species in China.