Myriopteris gracillima

Lace lip fern, Lace Lip Fern

Family: Pteridaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Lace lip fern is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, central western California, and Great Basin regions in granite cliffs and rocky crevices at elevations of 400 to 3,200 meters. Its delicate fronds are dark green, 6 to 18 centimeters long and 1 to 2 centimeters wide, with a distinctive lacy appearance created by finely dissected segments. Growing with a short-creeping rhizome, the fern produces slender stems with light brown scales that have a dark or sometimes reddish-brown midstripe. The fern's leaves are 2 to 3 times pinnate, with tiny rounded to oblong segments densely covered in long, deeply dissected scales that give it an intricate, almost lacelike texture. Its segments are characteristically concave on the underside, with margins recurved and adorned with elaborate, long-ciliate scales.

Habitat: Generally granite cliffs, crevices

Elevation: 400-3200 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SN, CW, GB

California counties: Marin, Calaveras, Shasta, Mariposa, Tulare, Tuolumne, Plumas, Siskiyou, Monterey, Sierra, Nevada, Butte, Del Norte, Madera, Placer, El Dorado

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