Etymology Fuscipes = dark-footed, Latin, refering to the brown scales at the stipe base.

Description Rhizome: erect, massive, bearing several fronds in a tuft.
Frond: 100 cm high by 25 cm wide, evergreen, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 3:2.
Stipe: grooved, scales brown to reddish-brown, mostly confined to the stipe base, 1.5 cm long in basal ones, vascular bundles: 3-7 in a c-shaped pattern.
Blade: 2-pinnate, triangular, herbaceous to somewhat leathery, early deciduous, dark, hair-like scales.
Pinnae: 12 to 15 pair, lanceolate, subopposite above the base; pinnules oblong, less than 2.5 cm; costae bullate scales; margins entire to crenate; veins free, forked.
Sori: round, in 1 row between midrib and margin, indusium: reniform, at a sinus, sporangia: brownish.

Culture Habitat: on forest floor in lowlands. Distribution: Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia. Hardy to -15°C, USDA Zone 7.

Synonyms
Dryopteris bipinnata C. Chr.
Nephrodium fuscipes Hand.-Mazz.