Maidenhair Fern
Adiantum pedatum
Description: Arguably the most beautiful fern in our area, this fern has characteristic blackish purple stipes 15-60cm tall. Once pinnately divided delicate leaves are arranged fanlike around the central stipe.
Ecology: Found in moist, shady, sites on humus rich soils, often at streambanks and waterfall spray zones, low to middle elevations, occasionally higher.
Notes: This one was found at the edge of a small stream in a shady forest in West Sechelt, BC, June 2001.
Oak Fern
Gymnocarpium dryopteris
Description: Three times pinnate leaves triangular in shape, its two lateral leaflets are shorter than the central one. A very fragile looking fern that is yellow-green in colour. Grows 15-40cm tall, solitary but more often in groups.
Ecology: Found in moist forest openings and rocky areas at low to subalpine elevations.
Notes: These ones were found at middle elevation below Carlson Lake on the Sunshine Coast of BC, June 2001, on a shady roadside near a small creek.
Goldenback Fern
Pityrogramma triangularis
Description: A very pretty little fern that grows to 35cm tall, its tufted evergreen leaves are golden beneath, hence the common name. From short, creeping scaly rhizomes. Stipes are twice as long as the blades, they are wiry and shiny brown, blades are roughly triangular, 2-3 times pinnate; covered with a white or golden waxy powder below. Sori are found in lines along the branching veins on the underside of the leaves, there is no indusium.
Ecology: Found in dry open or partly shaded rocky slopes and rock crevices from low to middle elevations.
Notes: This one was found growing with narrow leaved sword fern, parsley fern and wild strawberries on a rock bluff not far from the sea in West Sechelt, summer 2001.
Parsley Fern
Cryptogramma crispa
Description: A small evergreen fern, densely clustered from branched scaly rhizomes; has two distinct leaf types; the sterile leaves grow to 20cm tall, are somewhat egg-shaped and 3 times branched with 3-10 pairs of leaflets. Fertile leaves grow taller, to 30cm, and are much more lance-shaped, 2-3 times branched in 3-10 pairs of leaflets, their margins are inrolled and they have blunt leaf tips. Sori are continuous along the length of fertile leaves, protected by their inrolled margins.
Ecology: Found growing in dry, rocky slopes, cliffs, and open sites at low to high elevations. Common on the coast on rock bluffs dominated by arbutus, shore pine and Douglas fir.
Notes: This picture was taken on a dry rock bluff dominated by Arbutus, Juniper, Coastal Reindeer Lichen and Douglas Fir; it was in West Sechelt in the summer of 2001.
Narrow Leaved Sword Fern
Polystichum imbricans
Description: Description: Looks much like its larger relative the Sword Fern, with lance shaped evergreen leaves once pinnately divided, but it is smaller, growing only 20-60cm tall. It also has overlapping slightly infolded leaflets and scarcely scaly stipes (sword fern is much more scaly).
Ecology: Found growing in dry, rocky sites and open forests, generally in much drier habitat than the sword fern; found at low elevations in southwestern BC only.
Notes: This one was found growing on a rock bluff not far from the sea, it was growing with Parsley and Goldenback ferns.
Alpine Lady Fern
Athyrium alpestre
Description: Just like the above Lady fern but with narrower leaflets that are crinkled as though they have been scorched by fire. Also smaller, this specimen was about 60cm tall.
Ecology: Found at high elevation streams, bogs, wet cliffs and talus slopes.
Notes: This one was found growing with Labrador Tea and Red & Green Sphagnum mosses in Carlson Lake Bog - a high elevation transition zone that also contains low and middle elevation species.
Licorice Fern
Polypodium glycorrhiza
Description: A small to medium sized, evergreen fern that may curl and dry up when dry and revive when moisture returns. Once pinnate leaves, blades to 50cm long with leaflets usually longer than 3cm. Round naked sori, produces no indusium. Recognize species by its licorice-tasting rhizomes.
Ecology: Common in coastal habitats at low elevations Grows on
mossy soils and rocks and is often found growing as an epiphyte on deciduous trees, particularly big-leaf maple.
Notes: Uses: Chewed for its taste by first nations, root was also an important medicine for colds and sore throats.
Narrow Beech Fern
Thelypteris phegopteris
Description: Deciduous fern to 40cm tall from slender scaly creeping rhizomes, slender stipes are brown or straw coloured, hairy and lightly scaly. Leaf blades are triangular twice pinnate, hairy on upper and lower surfaces, 10-25 pairs of leaflets are stalkless with the lowest pair being bent away from the others. Circular sori lack indusium.
Ecology: Found in moist rich forests, bogs, streambanks, wet rocky cliffs, from low to subalpine elevations.
Notes: Mountain Fern is a similar species but near marginal sori have indusia and leaf shape is more like that of a Lady Fern. This one was found at the edge of Carlson Creek, middle elevation, summer 2006.
Maidenhair Spleenwort
Asplenium trichomanes
Description: A very small densely tufted fern with evergreen, opposite leaflets on leaves 10-20cm tall. With purplish black stipes like that of the Maidenhair Fern.
Ecology: Found at low to middle elevations on rock bluffs and talus slopes.
Notes: This one was found in a rock bluff not far from the sea in Sechelt, BC, June 2001, It was growing with some grasses between several large boulders.
Leathery Grape Fern
Botrychium multifidum
Description: A small 10-50cm erect evergreen fern with fleshy leathery leaves attached at / near the base, 2-4 times compounded, and up to 30cm across, though may often be smaller. Old, over-wintered leaf is usually present. Fertile leaf is somewhat taller with a branched panicle-like fertile spike.
Ecology: Found in moist or wet meadows, fields, lake shores or stream banks, swampy and alluvial forests from sea level to subalpine elevations.
Notes: Look-alikes species of other Botrychiums have no stalk on their leaves. This one was found at moderately high elevation at a forest edge in some vaccinium shrubs.
Pacific Polypody
Polypodium amorphum aka P. montense
Description: A very small fern with ultimate segments less than 3cm long, rounded tips and round sori, its rhizome has a rather bitter taste.
Ecology: Found in rock crevices from low to high elevation, usually found at higher elevations. Notes: This one was found growing on the side of a large granitic rock on the edge of Klein Lake in February, 2002.
