Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across the northern half of North America to the Atlantic Coast; circumboreal.

Habitat: Moist to moderately dry, often rocky places, lowlands to above timberline

Spores: April-September

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Perennial with creeping stems and short internodes, not hairy, beset with old petiole bases; scales tan to light brown, lanceolate.

Leaves monomorphic, to 40 cm, clustered at apex of stem; petiole dark at base, becoming mostly green to pale yellow distally, shorter than or almost equal to blade, base scarcely scaley; blade lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 1- or rarely 2-pinnate-pinnafitid, widest at or just below mid-stem, apex acute; gland-tipped hairs absent from rachis, costae, and pinnae axils; pinnae typically perpendicular to rachis, not curving, margins serrate to sharply toothed, pinnae nearest base pinnafitid to pinnate-pinnafitid, more or less even, basiscopic pinnules not enlarged, basal basiscopic pinnules sessile with a base truncate to obtuse, distal pinnae deltate to ovate; veins directed mostly into teeth.

Indusia ovate to lanceolate, gland-tipped hairs absent; spores spiny or verrucose, usually 39-60 micrometers.