Stems short-creeping; scales dark reddish brown, concolored, margins entire. Leaves arching, clustered, 20--37 cm. Petiole 1--2 mm diam., adaxially hispid, not glaucous. Blade lanceolate, pinnate or occasionally pseudopedate, 1-pinnate distally, 12--18 × 6.5--8 cm; proximal pinnae 1--4-pinnate; indument of light-colored, sparse, multicellular hairs; rachis straight, densely hispid, not glaucous. Segment stalks 0.2--0.3 mm, dark color generally entering into segment base. Ultimate segments oblong to long-triangular, ca. 2 times as long as broad, progressively reduced toward apex of penultimate divisions; basiscopic margin oblique; acroscopic margin of fertile segments crenulate, sterile segments sharply denticulate; apex obtuse or acute. False indusia ± round, 0.6--0.9 mm diam., covered with reddish brown, stiff, needlelike bristles. Spores mostly 40--60 µm diam. Sporulating summer--fall. Banks and old walls; 0--100 m; introduced; Conn., Ga.; Asia in s India; e Africa; Pacific Islands. Adiantum hispidulum is represented by sporadic escapes from cultivation in the flora, possibly naturalized locally. It also has been reported from Florida and Louisiana.