Deer fern, Lonchite

Description:

Fern in the family polypodiaceae. This fern is particularly distinctive because of its two different types of fronds, like some other Blechnum. Evergreen sterile fronds are stiff, leathery, pinnatifid and dark green, forming a loose outward-spreading, flattened rosette. As the season progresses, sterile fronds may lie horizontally on the ground. Fertile fronds are located in an erect vertical fountain in the centre of the sterile frond rosette. They are similar to the sterile ones but taller, with much thinner and widely separated leaflets. Fertile fronds turn brown and wither by the end of the summer, leaving the evergreen sterile rosette. The sterile leaves have flat, wavy-margined leaflets 5 to 8 millimeters wide, while the fertile leaves have much narrower leaflets, each with two thick rows of sori on the underside. B. spicant is hardy and evergreen, growing to 0.5 m.

Habitat:

It primarily occurs in moist to wet coniferous forests, wet slide areas, stream banks or bogs in up to sub-alpine terrain. Spotted at the rock walls of a a 2000 years old celtic hill fort (castro de Coaña). http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castro_de_C...

Notes:

Camera Model: NIKON D300. Exposure Time: 1/60 sec.; f/36; ISO Speed Rating: 800. Exposure Bias: 0 EV; Focal Length: 90.0 mm. Flash fired