Promoted
Polystichum braunii
On rocks in an ephemeral streambed in a deep ravine. Shaded by Sugar Maple and Black Ash trees. The ferns grow on duff and soil covered boulders in an ephemeral stream that flows between an old-growth Sugar Maple forest and a tall (~90 meters from the base) north-facing basalt bluff.
Same fern as in:
Leaves (fronds) are evergreen, up to 1 meter long and 20 cm wide, twice compound, lance-elliptic in outline, widest at about the middle, tapering to a pointed tip and gradually tapering at the base, with branches (pinnae) all along the stem nearly all the way to the ground, the lowest pinnae very short. Pinnae are up to 4 inches long, mostly lance-oblong in outline with 9 to 15 pairs of leaflets (pinnules).
Pinnules are sharply toothed, the teeth with bristled tips and curved up towards.. more
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