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Blunt-lobed Woodsia (Blunt Cliff-fern)
Woodsia obtusa
• Family: Dryopteridaceae
• Habitat: shaded cliffs and rocky slopes, especially in limy or neutral soil
• Height: 8-16 inches
• Location of spores: underside of fronds
• Stipe (leaf stalk): yellowish with sparse hairs when young, brittle
• Growth pattern: asymmetric clump
• Persistence: deciduous
A frond of blunt-lobed woodsia. Note the blunt tips of the leaflets and the wide spacing between lower leaflets.
Underside of a frond, showing the sori (spore-bearing structures).
Close-up of the sori. They are initially covered by a disk of thin tissue, which tears open, leaving the papery remnants visible here.