Name honors Giovani Francesco Maratti (1723-1777), Benedictine abbot and later professor of botany in Rome.

Plants terrestrial. Rhizomes short, usually erect. Fronds medium-sized to very large. Stipes sparsely scaly often with a swollen area (pulvinus) at base, bases of stipes flanked by a pair of thick, fleshy protuberances (stipules). Blades with pulvini at bases of pinna rachises and costae. Veins free, sometimes forked. Sori composed of a double row of sporangia united to form synangia with longitudinal slits or pores on upper surfaces.

A family of possibly four genera. Represented in Hawai'i by two genera.