Adiantum jordanii

California maidenhair

Family: Pteridaceae · Type: perennial · Native

California maidenhair is a native perennial fern found in California's Foothills and Plains bioregion in shaded hillsides and moist woodland at elevations below 1,600 meters. Its fronds feature distinctive red-brown to nearly black stalks 20 to 50 centimeters long with delicate, intricately divided blade structures. Growing with elegant, arching foliage, this fern has 2 to 3-pinnate leaves with small pinnules that have less than 4 irregular lobes. Its leaf segments are characterized by converging margins at 90 to 180 degree angles, with a unique midvein that forks into nearly equal branches. The fern produces sporangia with yellowish exudate, forming 1 to 3 sori per pinnule that are generally more than 5 millimeters long.

Habitat: Shaded hillsides, moist woodland

Elevation: < 1600 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc uncommon or absent &gt 1200 m CaR, SNH)

California counties: San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, Santa Clara, Placer, San Benito, Alameda, Los Angeles, El Dorado, Orange, San Bernardino, Nevada, Butte, Contra Costa, Fresno, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sutter, Trinity, Tuolumne, Tehama, Calaveras, Sonoma, Amador, Glenn, San Joaquin, Sacramento, San Francisco, Merced, Colusa, Shasta, Stanislaus, Yolo, Yuba, Kern

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.