Pellaea brachyptera

Sierra cliff-brake

Family: Pteridaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Sierra cliff-brake is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, and northern Sierra Nevada Mountains in rocky crevices and slopes at elevations of 700 to 2,200 meters. Leaf clusters emerge from a compact, short-creeping rhizome with red-brown scales, producing gray-green fronds 15 to 30 centimeters long and 2 to 3 centimeters wide. Growing with delicate 2-pinnate blades, this fern has 5 to 11 linear segments less than 1 centimeter long, each distinctively elongated and narrowly pointed. Its short stipe is 1 to 2 millimeters wide, supporting an oblong blade with segments positioned precisely along the central stem. The rhizome is notably compact, branching extensively and measuring over 8 centimeters long and 1 centimeter wide.

Habitat: Rocky crevices, slopes, serpentine or not

Elevation: 700-2200 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaR, n SNH

California counties: Trinity, Sierra, Placer, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Butte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Monterey, Plumas, Mariposa, Mendocino, Tuolumne, Yuba, Nevada, Lassen, Colusa, Del Norte, San Bernardino, El Dorado, Modoc

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