Stems erect, compact. Petiole straw-colored to tan or chestnut brown, equaling or slightly longer than blade, pubescent on both surfaces, base scaly; scales narrowly lanceolate, 3--8 × 0.2--0.7 mm. Blade oblong or ovate-oblong, 1-pinnate, 0.15--1.2 × 0.2--0.5 m. Rachis and costae puberulent abaxially. Pinnae (2--)3--6 pairs, 12--25 cm, base oblique, with 1--2 proximal basiscopic lobes, margins crenate without proliferous buds in axils. Areoles with included veinlets. Indusia attached laterally. 2 n = 160.

Hammocks; 0 m; Fla.; Mexico; West Indies in Antilles; Central America; South America to n Argentina.