Section Purpurascentes Fraser-Jenk.

Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Botany 14 (3): 197 (30 Jan. 1986). — Type: Dryopteris purpurascentes (Blume) H.Christ; Aspidium purpurascens Blume.

A group of about 13 species in south-east Asia, the Australasian and Pacific Ocean islands, extending to Hawaii, Africa and the Madagascan region . A single species belonging to this section occurs in the defined region.

Plants with a short, but stout erect rhizome. The frond axes are generally sparsely scaled, the lamina to 4-pinnate-pinnatifid bearing broadly ovate (often bullate) scales abaxially along the costae of the segments. The scales are entire, or they bear a few scattered glands along the margins. The scale apex is filiform and terminates in an oblong or spheroidal cell.