Thallus erect, coarse, leathery, yellowish brown to dark brown, bushy, forming colonies, 20-30(-50) cm high. Main axes terete, to 3 mm broad, muricate below (because of shed branches). Branching from all sides. Branches 6-9(-20) cm long. Phylloids long-stalked (12-15 mm), turbinate, 10-15 mm long, 10-15 mm broad at distal end. Distal marginal phylloids irregularly triangular, irregularly rounded or lobed, sometimes cut deeply on one side, with single margins bearing sharp teeth; tips flat or concave. The stalk subterete to slightly triangular. Vesicles embedded in center of phylloids. Cryptostomata scattered over phylloids and stalk. Receptacles 3-7 mm long, forked, clustered at the basal portion of the phylloid stalks. Attachment by discoid holdfast and branched stolons. Growing on rocks, dead corals, in the lower intertidal to the upper subtidal zones, exposed to wave action.