It is the only genus in the family Nephrolepidaceae, placed in the suborder Aspleniineae (eupolypods I) of the order Polypodiales in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I).

[citation needed] The fronds are long and narrow, and once-pinnate, in the case of one Bornean species reaching thirty feet (nine meters) in length.

[3] The following cladogram for the suborder Polypodiineae (eupolypods I), based on the consensus cladogram in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I),[1] shows a likely phylogenetic relationship between Nephrolepidaceae and the other families of the clade.

Didymochlaenaceae Hypodematiaceae Dryopteridaceae Nephrolepidaceae Lomariopsidaceae Tectariaceae Oleandraceae Davalliaceae Polypodiaceae N. rivularis N. pectinata N. pendula N. lauterbachii N. undulata N. flexuosa N. cordifolia N. exaltata N. davalliae N. abrupta N. falcata N. radicans N. biserrata N. falciformis N. acutifolia N. davallioides N. brownii N. hirsutula N. obliterata Some species of Nephrolepis are grown as ornamental plants.

[6] Some Nephrolepis species may prove to be a good source of new antimicrobial chemicals.