Maidenhair fern fronds arise singly or in small clumps. Their 15-60 cm tall, deciduous fronds are distinctive in that they branch palmately, with each branch once-pinnate. The stalk of the frond is glossy black or dark purplish and the pinnae are bluish-green and shed water. The sporangia are found along the wide edge of the fan-shaped pinnae, protected by the folded leaf margin. Maidenhair ferns are found in shady, humus-rich forest and streambank sites and on cliffs in the spray zone of waterfalls in low to middle (and occasionally subalpine) elevations.