General: Deciduous perennial in vase-like clusters from a short, stout rhizome.
Leaves: Oblong-lanceolate, broadest in the middle and narrowed towards the top and less towards the bottom, 20-120 cm long, 5-35 cm wide, 1-pinnate, the pinnae deeply cut, the segments with small blunt teeth along the margins.
Mesic to moist alluvial forests, avalanche tracks, talus and rocky crevices in the lowland to subalpine zones; frequent in coastal BC except rare on Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands, infrequent in SC BC; almost cosmopolitan, but widely disjunct, E to NF and S to MA, NH, NY, MI, IL, TX, NM, AZ and CA; Eurasia, S America, S Asia, S Africa.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
A shade-tolerant/intolerant, montane, circumpolar fern (transcontinental in North America). Occurs on fresh to very moist, nitrogen-rich soils within boreal, temperate, and cool mesothermal climates. Sporadic on water-shedding and water-receiving sites, alluvial forests and avalanche tracks. Typically associated with Athyrium filix-femina, Gymnocarpium dryopteris, Oplopanax horridus, and Tiarella unifoliata. Characteristic of Moder and Mull humus forms.
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