Fern usually of high altitudes. Rhizome erect. Fronds closely tufted up to 30cm long. Stipe 10-90mm long, almost black, shiny, glabrous. Lamina oblong-linear, pinnate with widely spaced pinnae; pinnae obovate to shortly rectangular, glabrous above, subglabrous below, margins sharply crenate; rachis blackish, glabrous. Sori linear or elongate in 3 or 4 pairs at 30-45° to the costa.

Greek: trichoma = growth of hair; a name bestowed by Dioscorides in the misguided belief that it was a hair restorer.