Myriopteris covillei

Coville's lip fern, Coville's Lip Fern

Family: Pteridaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Coville's lip fern is a California native perennial found in the Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, Sutter Buttes, San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, eastern southern Coast, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, northeastern Sierra Nevada, western Mojave Desert, desert mountains, and western desert regions in rock crevices and rock bases from 600 to 2,400 meters elevation. Its dark green fronds are 8 to 22 centimeters long with intricate, highly dissected leaflets that create a delicate, lacy appearance. Growing with a short-creeping rhizome, the fern develops stems with distinctive dark brown or black scales, some featuring narrow light brown margins. Its leaves are complex, with 3 to 4 levels of pinnate divisions, featuring small, nearly round segments densely covered with overlapping scales that obscure the leaf surface. The fern thrives in both sunny and shaded environments, with fronds characterized by white to red-brown scales and a unique, compact growth structure.

Habitat: Crevices, bases of rocks, sun or shade

Elevation: 600-2400 m

Bioregions: NCoR, SN, ScV (Sutter Buttes), SnFrB, SCoR, e SCo, TR, PR, SNE, w edge DMoj, DMtns, w DSon

California counties: Imperial, Kern, Plumas, Contra Costa, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Monterey, Mariposa, Inyo, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Ventura, Tulare, Los Angeles

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