Latin incisus, sharply or deeply cut into, possibly in reference to the blade division.

Plants medium-sized, terrestrial. Rhizomes decumbent. Fronds mostly 50-170 x 20-50 cm. Stipes about as long as blades, straw-colored to brownish, mostly glabrous, scales few and scattered, thin, light brown. Blades 1-pinnate, oblong to ovate-oblong, oblique, tips often similar to lateral pinnae, occasionally pinnatifid, membranous; rachises grooved, glabrous except in grooves, which are filled with stubby, multicellular, obtuse-tipped hairs 0.1 mm long. Pinnae 3-10 pairs, simple, margins entire to slightly crenulate, basal pinnae short-stalked, basal pair with an elongate, acute, basal basiscopic lobe, distal pinnae adnate with decurrent bases, costae and costules glabrous abaxially, hairs same as on rachises adaxially. Veins reticulate, forming areoles with free included veinlets, areoles adjacent to pinna costae long, linear. Sori small, in lines on both sides of main lateral veins of pinnae, mostly on margins of areoles. Indusia large, thin, reniform or round.

Tectaria incisa was first collected in Hawai 'i in 1985 in Waimanu Valley on Hawai 'i Island and is now naturalized at low elevations on Kaua'i, O'ahu (in Lyon Arboretum in upper Manoa Valley), and Hawai 'i. Native from southern Mexico to northern Argentina and the West Indies, it is also present in southern Florida.

Tectaria incisa may be recognized by its 1-pinnate blades; basal pair of pinnae with elongate, acute, basal basiscopic lobes; and distally winged rachises that are grooved and filled with stubby, multicellular, usually obtuse-tipped hairs 0.1 mm long. Its pinnae have entire or broadly crenulate margins, profusely anastomosing veins forming areoles with included veinlets, and characteristic semicircular arrangement of the stipe base vascular bundles. Distinguished from Tectaria gaudichaudii by its lesser dissection, blade tips that are similar to lateral pinnae (versus pinnatifid), and simple pinnae with entire margins.