Large terrestrial fern. Rhizomes short, broad. Fronds arising in a basal rosette. Blades to 1.5 m long, 20 cm wide, narrowing to base, undivided, without teeth or lobing, leathery, shiny. Stalks near-black. Sori along along veins in upper part of the frond.

Needs shelter and warmth.

Tropics.

The name A. nidus is frequently misapplied to a plant which is now correctly named A. australasicum. The width of the soral bands on the lower surface of the fronds is not a reliable character to distinguish these species. There is variant with folded fronds. Midrib on the lower surface rounded; cf. similar but cold-tolerant A. australasicum.

Source: Spencer, R. (1995). Aspleniaceae. In: Spencer, R.. 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.