Terrestrial, usually less than 50 cm tall. Leaves 2-pinnate; petioles shiny and atropurpureous; rachis similar but usually covered with two types of scales-small, fine, +/- appressed scales and longer, subulate-filiform scales; leaflets asymmetrical, mostly 1-3 cm long, acute at base, the lateral leaflets +/- oblong or sometimes broader at the base with apex usually rounded and the proximal edge nearly paralleling the rachis, the lower surface usually glaucous and usually bearing numerous to few simple trichomes and sometimes filiform scales; sterile leaflets finely and evenly serrate. Sori interrupted along inner, upper, and outer margins, frequently fertile at apex. Croat 8553. Occasional, along trails in the forest. Belize to Peru, Brazil, and French Guiana; Trinidad. In Panama, known from tropical moist forest on the Atlantic slope of the Canal Zone and in San Blas, and from premontane wet forest in Panama (Lago Cerro Azul).