Identification is by means of either a pictorial key to groups, or a so-called multi-access key. The former will help to narrow down the species, but the multi-access key is merely an unstructured list of characters with the species that fit listed beside each - it is left to the reader to collate the species common to the matching characters. Furthermore, the classes are not exclusive - eg there is a list of species with fronds up to 30cm tall and another for those above 1m but the intermediate species aren’t listed.

The species accounts are quite full, even for the hybrids and the accompanying distribution map and photocopied fronds will generally be sufficent to make an identification. Proper confirmation often requires use of a compound microscope to examine spores or sporangia and this is also given.