Erect or mostly pendulous medium-sized fern. Rhizome about 5 mm wide, covered with dark scales. Sterile and fertile fronds different. Fronds in clusters, erect at first but later pendent. Stalk short. Blade of sterile fronds, narrow, linear, to about 3 mm wide and 15 cm long; fertile fronds to 80 cm long, 1 cm wide. Sori just inside margins in a groove extending from almost the tip of the frond to about half way down.
Needs shelter and warmth.
Qld, NSW, Pacific, Malesia.
Vittaria ensiformis Sw. which is also widespread in the tropics and subtropics and similarly known as Tape Fern, differs in technical characters of the scales (see key) and is occasionally cultivated.
Source: (1995). Vittariaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 1, Ferns, conifers & their allies. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.