Name honors Konrad Hermann Heinrich Christ (1833-1933), Swiss pteridologist, plant geographer, professor of botany at Basel, and author of important books and articles regarding fems
Plants small to large, terrestrial. Rhizomes short- to long-creeping, decumbent to erect. Stipes 1/3-1/2 frond length, straw-colored to dark purple, scales narrow, with many superficial hairs. Blades 1-pinnate to 1-pinnate-pinnatisect. Pinnae shallowly to deeply lobed, lower pinnae not or only slightly reduced, or several basal pinnae gradually reduced in size, lower surface with short, white, needlelike hairs and often glands, small, cartilaginous membranes present at bases of sinuses. Veins pinnately branched, lowermost veins or several vein branches joining below sinuses to form an excurrent vein to sinuses. Sori round. Indusia round to kidney-shaped, occasionally absent.
A genus of about 50 species mostly from the Old World Tropics. Represented in Hawai 'i by five species (three endemic and two naturalized) and two recognized hybrids.