Struthiopteris spicant

Deer fern, Deer Fern

Family: Blechnaceae · Type: Fern · Native

Deer fern is a native fern found in northern California coastal regions, northern Coast Ranges, northern Sierra Nevada, central coastal California, and San Francisco Bay Area in shaded, neutral to acid moist areas at elevations from 0 to 1,500 meters. Its sterile leaves form an arching rosette up to 1 meter tall with 20 to 80 pairs of firm, deep green pinnae 5 to 8 millimeters wide, spreading in a graceful circular pattern. Growing with a short, dark-based stipe covered in persistent brown scales, the fern develops distinctive sterile and fertile leaf structures with the fertile leaves emerging later in the center of the rosette. Its pinnae range from entire to shallowly crenate, with lower pinnae gradually reducing to semicircular lobes less than 5 millimeters long. The fertile leaves stand more upright, with narrower pinnae approximately 2 millimeters wide and completely unlobed.

Habitat: Shaded, neutral to acid moist areas

Elevation: +- 0-1500 m.

Bioregions: NCo, NCoRO, n SNH, CCo, SnFrB

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