Stems short-creeping; scales dark reddish brown, concolored, margins entire. Leaves arching to erect, clustered, (15--)35--80 cm. Petiole 1--2 mm diam., minutely rough, abaxially strigose, not glaucous. Blade ovate, pinnate, 1-pinnate distally (small leaves 1-pinnate throughout), (11--)15--35 × (3.5--)8--15 cm, glabrous; proximal pinnae (and sometimes also next 2--3 pairs) 1--2(--3)-pinnate; rachis straight, densely minutely rough. Segment stalks 0.1--0.8 mm, dark color entering into segment base. Ultimate segments oblong, about 2 times as long as broad; basiscopic margin straight or sometimes oblique; acroscopic margin shallowly lobed, lobes separated by narrow incisions; apex obtuse, shallowly lobed. False indusia crescent-shaped, 1--4.5 mm, glabrous. Spores mostly 40--50 µm diam. 2 n = 60.

Sporulating throughout the year. Hammocks and limestone sinks in Everglades National Park; 0 m; Fla.; West Indies in Greater Antilles, Bahamas.