This is a very interesting and fascinating moderately-sized epiphytic fern. It is put in this family simply because of the presence of naked sori. It is probably introduced from South East Asia. The plant is now cultivated as an ornamental species decorating greenhouses and gardens.
The rhizome is short and fleshy, completely covered with its roots by the nest-leaves.
The nest-leaf is dimorphous, large, yellowish green, thin but fleshy . Main veins are prominent and dichotomous, forming a net work. The fertile leaves can grow up to 100cm long, with dichotomous branching which becomes narrower towards the tip and the tips are fertile. The sori are naked, located terminally as a reddish patch on the apices of the lobe resembling a coloured finger nail.
The spores are monolete, ellipsoidal, with smooth surface and sparse rodlets.
