Fronds 1-2-pinnate, lanceolate to narrow-lanceolate. Stipe with scattered, usually pale lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate scales; blade pale-green, somewhat succulent-herbaceous; pinna lobes or pinnules usually with wide, obtuse or rounded apices.

1. Pinnae deeply pinnately divided, cut 2/3 or more deep to pinnae midrib.

2. Fertile pinnae noticeably narrower than the sterile ones and restricted to the upper 1/2 of the blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14. D. ludoviciana

2. Fertile and sterile pinnae of approximately the same width.

3. Blade ovate-lanceolate, tapering gradually from below the middle to the tip; basal pinnae ovate-lanceolate; scales dark brown or pale brown with dark center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11. D. celsa

3. Blade oblong-lanceolate, tapering in the distal 1/4; basal pinnae deltate to elongate-deltate; scales pale brown, with or without a dark brown center.

  4. Basal pinnae deltate (as long as or only slightly longer than wide); the pinnae of the fertile frond twisted at right angles to the blade surface as in an open venetian blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13. D. cristata 

4. Basal pinnae elongate-deltate (ca. 2 times longer than wide); the pinnae of the fertile frond not strongly twisted . . . . . .12.D. clintoniana