Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Polystichum scopulinum

Eaton's holly fern, mountain holly fern, polystic des rochers, rock sword fern
Stems

ascending.
Leaves

erect, 1–3(–5) dm;

bulblets absent.
Petiole

1/5–1/3 length of leaf, densely scaly but scales falling off distally;

scales light brown, abruptly diminishing in size distally.
Blade

narrowly lanceolate, 1-pinnate-pinnatifid, base narrowed.
Pinnae

oblong-lanceolate, overlapping, folded inward and twisted horizontally, 1–3 cm;

base oblique;

margins serrulate with teeth curved inward;

apex obtuse to cuspidate with subapical teeth smaller than apical tooth;

microscales narrowly lanceolate, with stout projections, sparse, on abaxial surface only.
Indusia

entire-ciliate.
Spores

brown.
2n

= 164.

Polystichum scopulinum
Habitat Rock crevices and at base of boulders, serpentine to acidic substrates, usually exposed to full sun
Elevation 0–3500 m (0–11500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; NF; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Polystichum scopulinum is widely distributed in the United States west of the 110th meridian, where it occurs in sporadic, usually small populations. The species is abundant only on montane serpentine outcrops. The populations in Newfoundland and Quebec are dramatically disjunct.

Polystichum scopulinum is an allopolyploid, believed on morphologic grounds to be derived from P. imbricans × lemmonii (D. H. Wagner 1979). Based on putative hybridization between P. scopulinum and P. munitum (P. S. Soltis et al. 1989; W. H. Wagner Jr. 1973), however, P. munitum may also be involved. This hybrid is discussed under P. californicum.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Dryopteridaceae > Polystichum
Sibling taxa
P. acrostichoides, P. aleuticum, P. andersonii, P. braunii, P. californicum, P. dudleyi, P. imbricans, P. kruckebergii, P. kwakiutlii, P. lemmonii, P. lonchitis, P. microchlamys, P. munitum, P. setigerum
Synonyms Aspidium aculeatum var. scopulinum, P. mohrioides var. scopulinum
Name authority (D. C. Eaton) Maxon: Fern Bull. 8: 29. (1900)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers