Etymology Latin: lacera, torn into fringelike segments

Description Rhizome: erect, massive, bearing several fronds in a tuft, scaly.
Frond: 60 cm high by 20 cm wide, evergreen, somewhat dimorphic, fertile fronds with more and constricted pinnae at the , blade/stipe ratio: 3:1.
Stipe: grooved, densely scaly throughout, brown to reddish brown, oblong-ovate to linear-lanceolate, larger ones to 2 cm long, membranous, vascular bundles: 3-7 in a C-shaped pattern.
Blade: pinnate-pinnatifid to nearly 2-pinnate, oblong to ovate-oblong, herbaceous to somewhat leathery, linear to ovate scales below, absent above.
Pinnae: 10 to 20 pair, lower sterile pinnae oblong-lanceolate, shortly stalked; fertile pinnae confined to upper portion, gradually smaller upwardly, covered entirely by sori, withering after maturation,; veins immersed on upper surfaces, distinct.
Sori: round, entirely covering the fertile pinnae, indusium: reniform, sporangia: brownish.

Culture Habitat: floor of mountain forests, at edge of lowland forests. Distribution: Japan, China, Korea. Hardy to -25°C, USDA Zone 5.

Synonyms
Polypodium lacerum Thunb.
Aspidium filix-mas var. lacerum Chr.
Aspidium lacerum (Thunb.) Sw.
Lastrea lacera (Thunb.) D.C. Eaton
Nephrodium lacerum (Thunb.) Baker
Polypodium lacerum Thunb.
Polystichum lacerum Presl