General: Perennial with overwintering fronds arising singly from elongated rhizomes.
Leaves: On stipes as long as blades or longer, blades elongate-triangular, 10-25 cm long and 3-15 cm wide, pinnate; pinnae pinnatifid, the lowermost at an abruptly pointed angle to the stipe and bent outwards; segments hairy underneath.
Moist to wet forests, streambanks, shaded seepy rock cliffs and swamps from the lowland to subalpine zones; infrequent throughout BC; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to NH, NC, TN, IA, MN and OR; Eurasia.
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 to subalpine, circumpolar fern (transcontinental in North America). Occurs fresh to very moist, calcium and nitrogen-rich soils within boreal, wet temperate, and cool mesothermal climates; its occurrence increases with precipitation. Rare to scattered in herbaceous understories on water-shedding and waterreceiving (floodplain) sites. Fairly common on Queen Charlotte Islands, locally on coastal mainland. A nitrophytic species characteristic of Moder and Mull humus forms.
