Polystichum scopulinum

Mountain holly fern

Family: Dryopteridaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Mountain holly fern is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern California Coast Ranges, high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, San Gabriel, San Bernardino, and San Jacinto Mountains, Modoc Plateau, and desert mountains including Surprise Canyon and Panamint Range in rock crevices and boulder bases from 400 to 3,200 meters elevation. Its deep green fronds grow 10 to 50 centimeters long with narrow-lanceolate blades that are intricately divided into lance-oblong pinnae. Growing with a distinctively scaled stipe where the base scales are 1.5 to 2 millimeters wide, the fern forms dense, architectural clusters in rocky habitats. Its pinnae are generally 1 to 3 centimeters long, with the longest pinnae reaching 1.5 to 3 centimeters and displaying a complex, partly two-pinnate structure. The fern's delicate fronds create elegant, textured formations in rocky mountain environments, adapting to serpentine and acidic soils with remarkable resilience.

Habitat: Serpentine to acidic soils, generally full sun, rock crevices, boulder bases

Elevation: 400-3200 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRO, NCoRH, CaRH, SNH, SnGb, SnBr, SnJt, MP, DMtns (Surprise Canyon, Panamint Range)

California counties: San Bernardino, Siskiyou, Los Angeles, Alpine, Glenn, Inyo, Santa Cruz, Trinity, Tulare, El Dorado, Plumas, Butte, Placer, Shasta, Del Norte, Mendocino, Tehama, Lake, Sierra, Riverside, Modoc, Tuolumne, Humboldt, Nevada

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