Its fronds are leathery and plastic and rachis is very thick, bright reddish brown and is traversed throughout its length of three wings, two on the upper surface to draw a groove and a third on the lower surface which is characteristic and unique to this species, since all other species of the trichomanes complex without.

A global phylogeny of Asplenium published in 2020 divided the genus into eleven clades,[1] which were given informal names pending further taxonomic study.

Members of the clade grow on rocks and have once-pinnate leaf blades with slender, chestnut- to dark-brown stalks.

[3] The A. trichomanes subclade also has brown, membraneous wings or projections on the side of the rachis.

[4] It grows in the shade of laurel forests and high mountain pine forests between the stones of the walls and crevices of volcanic rock oriented north and northwest, on a base of moss and lichen.