Sphaeropteris cooperi

Cooper's tree fern, Cooper's Tree Fern

Family: Cyatheaceae · Type: tree · Not Native

Cooper's tree fern is a naturalized tree found on Santa Catalina Island in coastal, open, rocky cliff environments at elevations below 220 meters. This large fern produces no flowers, instead displaying massive fronds up to 3.5 meters long with narrow-elliptic or lanceolate blade structures. Growing with a trunk less than 15 meters tall and 10 to 15 centimeters in diameter, it develops dramatic feather-like leaves with distinctive basal scales that are white or tan and translucent. Its fronds are complex and intricate, with pinnae up to 65 centimeters long and pinnules that are pinnately lobed almost to the midribs, creating an elaborate, layered appearance. The fern's leaf structure is particularly notable for its bristle-like teeth along the margins and the mixture of pale translucent scales and shorter, dark bristle-like hairs at its base.

Habitat: Coastal, open, rocky cliff faces, in granitic or sedimentary sandstone soils in fog belt

Elevation: < 220 m

Bioregions: s ChI (Santa Catalina Island)

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