Comparison photo (per Cedric Lee) of 2 similar Pellaea (both have rolled under leaf margins).
Coffee Fern (Pellaea andromedifolia) NO bristle tipped leaf-- on LEFT side, and
Bird's Foot Cliffbrake (Pellaea mucronata) with bristle tipped leaf-- on RIGHT side.
http://www.inaturalist.org/photos/2168173?size=medium

Bird's Foot Cliffbrake (Pellaea mucronata) A.k.a. Bird’s-foot Fern. Native, xeric-adapted fern that grows on dry, rocky slopes in many plant communities. It has wiry stems and small, leathery leaflets. Fronds are 20–40 cm long and triangular-oblong in shape. Similar looking to Coffee fern but the oblong pinnules are narrower with rolled under margins and the pinnules are “mucronate,” having a small spine at the tip. Coffee fern pinnules sometimes have margins rolled under and appear narrow like Bird’s-foot fern, but lack the spine at tip.
Bird’s foot cliffbrake is so named because many of the leaflets are in 3’s, with the center pinnule being the longest, appearing as the tiny foot of a bird :-)

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=36790

Calflora (also lists 2 subspecies) https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=6127

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 8-9.

Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 7.

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 426.

Monterey Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Pellaea%20mucronata%20mucronata

Baja California Plant Field Guide, Jon P. Rebman, Norman C. Roberts, 3rd. ed, 2012, pp. 50-51

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Fern structures have their own names:
A fern’s leaf is called a frond. It is divided into pinnae, which may be subdivided into pinnules. The underside of the pinnules contain sori, which in turn contain sporangia, which produce the spores. Sori may be covered by a membrane-like indusium. A false indusium is a covering formed by a reflexed margin of the pinna/ pinnule. Not all ferns have clearly defined sori.
"Division of fern fronds: The lamina of a frond is often divided into many pinnae along the length of the rachis. The pinnae can also be divided into many pinnules. If lamina is divided only into pinnae but the pinnae are not divided into pinnules then a frond is known as being pinnately divided. If a frond does have the second division into pinnules, it is bipinnately divided. Alternatively, some fronds are divided palmately, with a number of pinnae growing from the same point on the rachis. Whether a fern has pinnate, bipinnate or palmate fronds is useful in the classification of many ferns."
https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees & Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

Link to how Parry's Lip Fern looks when furled up and desiccated: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66016434

Parry's Lip Fern (Myriopteris parryi) Small fern native to the Southwestern US, California, and Baja California, where it grows in rocky crevices in the mountains and deserts. The leaf blades are oblong-lanceolate, twice pinnate, and densely woolly.

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=99425

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers (and more) https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Myriopteris%20parryi

Baja California Plant Field Guide, Jon P. Rebman, Norman C. Roberts, 3rd. ed, 2012 (species not listed)

Plants of Southern California: Regional Floras http://tchester.org/plants/floras/#abdsp (a comprehensive website)

Native and Introduced Plants of Southern California by Tom Chester http://tchester.org/plants/index.html

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Fern structures have their own names:
A fern’s leaf is called a frond. It is divided into pinnae, which may be subdivided into pinnules. The underside of the pinnules contain sori, which in turn contain sporangia, which produce the spores. Sori may be covered by a membrane-like indusium. A false indusium is a covering formed by a reflexed margin of the pinna/ pinnule. Not all ferns have clearly defined sori.
"Division of fern fronds: The lamina of a frond is often divided into many pinnae along the length of the rachis. The pinnae can also be divided into many pinnules. If lamina is divided only into pinnae but the pinnae are not divided into pinnules then a frond is known as being pinnately divided. If a frond does have the second division into pinnules, it is bipinnately divided. Alternatively, some fronds are divided palmately, with a number of pinnae growing from the same point on the rachis. Whether a fern has pinnate, bipinnate or palmate fronds is useful in the classification of many ferns."
https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees & Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

Western Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) Native evergreen fern. Fronds are erect and stiff with one central stipe (stem). The broadened base of a pinna resembles a sword’s hilt. The slender pinnae have serrated margins. Sori are large and round. Indusia, if present, are ciliated with marginal hairs.

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=39422

Oregon Flora https://oregonflora.org/taxa/index.php?taxon=7561

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 6-7.

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 421.

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees and Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-misc1/

Shield Ferns (Genus Polystichum) Many ferns of this genus have stout, slowly creeping root stocks that form a crown, with a vase-like ring of evergreen fronds 30 to 200 cm (10 to 80 in) long. The sori are round, with a circular indusium. The stipes have prominent scales with often have hair-like cilia, but lack any true hairs. The genus differs from the well-known and allied fern genus Dryopteris (Wood Ferns) in the indusium being circular, not reniform (kidney-shaped), and in having the leaf segments with auricles—asymmetrical blades where one side of the segment is much longer than the other at the base.

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Fern structures have their own names:
A fern’s leaf is called a frond. It is divided into pinnae, which may be subdivided into pinnules. The underside of the pinnules contain sori, which in turn contain sporangia, which produce the spores. Sori may be covered by a membrane-like indusium. A false indusium is a covering formed by a reflexed margin of the pinna/ pinnule. Not all ferns have clearly defined sori.
"Division of fern fronds: The lamina of a frond is often divided into many pinnae along the length of the rachis. The pinnae can also be divided into many pinnules. If lamina is divided only into pinnae but the pinnae are not divided into pinnules then a frond is known as being pinnately divided. If a frond does have the second division into pinnules, it is bipinnately divided. Alternatively, some fronds are divided palmately, with a number of pinnae growing from the same point on the rachis. Whether a fern has pinnate, bipinnate or palmate fronds is useful in the classification of many ferns."
https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees & Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

A small densely woolly fern growing on a mostly shaded, north-facing rocky wall.

Parry's Lip Fern (Myriopteris parryi) Small fern native to the Southwestern US, California, and Baja California, where it grows in rocky crevices in the mountains and deserts. The leaf blades are oblong-lanceolate, twice pinnate, and densely woolly.

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=99425

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers (and more) https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Myriopteris%20parryi

Baja California Plant Field Guide, Jon P. Rebman, Norman C. Roberts, 3rd. ed, 2012 (species not listed)

Plants of Southern California: Regional Floras http://tchester.org/plants/floras/#abdsp (a comprehensive website)

Native and Introduced Plants of Southern California by Tom Chester http://tchester.org/plants/index.html

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fern structures have their own names:
A fern’s leaf is called a frond. It is divided into pinnae, which may be subdivided into pinnules. The underside of the pinnules contain sori, which in turn contain sporangia, which produce the spores. Sori may be covered by a membrane-like indusium. A false indusium is a covering formed by a reflexed margin of the pinna/ pinnule. Not all ferns have clearly defined sori.
"Division of fern fronds: The lamina of a frond is often divided into many pinnae along the length of the rachis. The pinnae can also be divided into many pinnules. If lamina is divided only into pinnae but the pinnae are not divided into pinnules then a frond is known as being pinnately divided. If a frond does have the second division into pinnules, it is bipinnately divided. Alternatively, some fronds are divided palmately, with a number of pinnae growing from the same point on the rachis. Whether a fern has pinnate, bipinnate or palmate fronds is useful in the classification of many ferns."
https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees & Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

Comparison photo (per Cedric Lee) of 2 similar Pellaea (both have rolled under leaf margins).
Coffee Fern (Pellaea andromedifolia) NO bristle tipped leaf-- on LEFT side, and
Bird's Foot Cliffbrake (Pellaea mucronata) with bristle tipped leaf-- on RIGHT side.
http://www.inaturalist.org/photos/2168173?size=medium

Bird's Foot Cliffbrake (Pellaea mucronata) A.k.a. Bird’s-foot Fern. Native, xeric-adapted fern that grows on dry, rocky slopes in many plant communities. It has wiry stems and small, leathery leaflets. Fronds are 20–40 cm long and triangular-oblong in shape. Similar looking to Coffee fern but the oblong pinnules are narrower with rolled under margins and the pinnules are “mucronate,” having a small spine at the tip. Coffee fern pinnules sometimes have margins rolled under and appear narrow like Bird’s-foot fern, but lack the spine at tip.
Bird’s foot cliffbrake is so named because many of the leaflets are in 3’s, with the center pinnule being the longest, appearing as the tiny foot of a bird :-)

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=36790

Calflora (also lists 2 subspecies) https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=6127

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 8-9.

Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 7.

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 426.

Monterey Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Pellaea%20mucronata%20mucronata

Baja California Plant Field Guide, Jon P. Rebman, Norman C. Roberts, 3rd. ed, 2012, pp. 50-51

Plants of Southern California: Regional Floras http://tchester.org/plants/floras/#abdsp (a comprehensive website)

Native and Introduced Plants of Southern California by Tom Chester http://tchester.org/plants/index.html

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Fern structures have their own names:
A fern’s leaf is called a frond. It is divided into pinnae, which may be subdivided into pinnules. The underside of the pinnules contain sori, which in turn contain sporangia, which produce the spores. Sori may be covered by a membrane-like indusium. A false indusium is a covering formed by a reflexed margin of the pinna/ pinnule. Not all ferns have clearly defined sori.
"Division of fern fronds: The lamina of a frond is often divided into many pinnae along the length of the rachis. The pinnae can also be divided into many pinnules. If lamina is divided only into pinnae but the pinnae are not divided into pinnules then a frond is known as being pinnately divided. If a frond does have the second division into pinnules, it is bipinnately divided. Alternatively, some fronds are divided palmately, with a number of pinnae growing from the same point on the rachis. Whether a fern has pinnate, bipinnate or palmate fronds is useful in the classification of many ferns."
https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees & Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

Front and backside of Lip Fern--2nd photo.

Lip fern growing out of a crack between large rock and gravely desert soil.

Coville's Lip Fern (Myriopteris covillei) A.k.a. Beady Lipfern. The reddish white scales on the leaf underside are distinctive for this species of native fern.

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Myriopteris%20covillei

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=99420

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fern structures have their own names:
A fern’s leaf is called a frond. It is divided into pinnae, which may be subdivided into pinnules. The underside of the pinnules contain sori, which in turn contain sporangia, which produce the spores. Sori may be covered by a membrane-like indusium. A false indusium is a covering formed by a reflexed margin of the pinna/ pinnule. Not all ferns have clearly defined sori.
"Division of fern fronds: The lamina of a frond is often divided into many pinnae along the length of the rachis. The pinnae can also be divided into many pinnules. If lamina is divided only into pinnae but the pinnae are not divided into pinnules then a frond is known as being pinnately divided. If a frond does have the second division into pinnules, it is bipinnately divided. Alternatively, some fronds are divided palmately, with a number of pinnae growing from the same point on the rachis. Whether a fern has pinnate, bipinnate or palmate fronds is useful in the classification of many ferns."
https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees & Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

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INaturalist Project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pioneertown-mountains-preserve-inaturalist-notebook

"The 25,500-acre Pioneertown Mountains Preserve descends from the high piney 7,800-foot ridges into the Pioneertown Valley. The small community of Pioneertown is surrounded by conservancy-owned volcanic mesas, the Sawtooth Mountains, and preserve lands leading to the San Bernardino National Forest. The preserve has year-round riparian corridors in Pipes Canyon and Little Morongo Canyons. It is an important landscape linkage between Joshua Tree National Park, San Bernardino National Forest, and the Big Horn Mountains Bureau of Land Management Wilderness.
In 2006, the vast majority of the Joshua trees, pinyon pines and junipers at Pioneertown Mountains Preserve were killed in a 70,000-acre lightning-caused fire of unprecedented magnitude. Today, much of the preserve is going through natural vegetation succession. Some scientists predict that fire succession and climate change will favor scrub oak and Joshua tree plant communities that may replace the pinyon forests. The fire laid bare the region’s rich geological backbone."

This is photo #1 of a sequence showing a patch of western sword fern, Polystichum munitum, at different points during the 2014 growing season. The habitat is a dry forest on a rocky SW facing slope under a canopy of Pseudotsuga menziesii. Arbutus menziesii, and Acer macrophyllum.

This photo was taken on February 16th and shows the typical mid-winter aspect of the evergreen fronds.

Other photos in this sequence can be found at these links:

April 20th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193647849
May 31: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193647989
September 6th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193648251
November 2nd: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193648423

This is photo #2 of a sequence showing a patch of western sword fern, Polystichum munitum, at different points during the 2014 growing season. The habitat is a dry forest on a rocky SW facing slope under a canopy of Pseudotsuga menziesii. Arbutus menziesii, and Acer macrophyllum.

This photo was taken on April 20th and shows the current year's fronds emerging, while the fronds from the previous year are still more or less fully green.

Other photos in this sequence can be found at the following links:

February 16th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193647689
May 31: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193647989
September 6th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193648251
November 2nd: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193648423

This is photo #3 of a sequence showing a patch of western sword fern, Polystichum munitum, at different points during the 2014 growing season. The habitat is a dry forest on a rocky SW facing slope under a canopy of Pseudotsuga menziesii. Arbutus menziesii, and Acer macrophyllum.

This photo was taken on May 31 and shows the current year's fronds fully emerged.

Other photos in this sequence can be found at the following links:

February 16th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193647689
April 20th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193647849
September 6th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193648251
November 2nd: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193648423

This is photo #4 of a sequence showing a patch of western sword fern, Polystichum munitum, at different points during the 2014 growing season. The habitat is a dry forest on a rocky SW facing slope under a canopy of Pseudotsuga menziesii. Arbutus menziesii, and Acer macrophyllum.

This photo was taken on September 6 and shows the ferns under drought stress with markedly wilted fronds.

Note that precipitation for the October 1 2013 to Sept. 30 2014 water year was 28.44”, only 62% of average, and mean temperatures for both July and August 2014 were more than 4 degrees F above average.

Other photos in this sequence can be found at the following links:
February 16th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193647689
April 20th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193647849
May 31: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193647989
November 2nd: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193648423

This is photo #5 of a sequence showing a patch of western sword fern, Polystichum munitum, at different points during the 2014 growing season. The habitat is a dry forest on a rocky SW facing slope under a canopy of Pseudotsuga menziesii. Arbutus menziesii, and Acer macrophyllum.

This photo was taken on November 11th and shows the plants after they have recovered from rather severe summer drought due to fall rains and moderated temperatures. However there was damage to the fronds on the outer parts of the pinnae on the distal portions of some of the fronds.

Other photos in this sequence can be found at the following links:

February 16th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193647689
April 20th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193647849
May 31: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193647989
September 6th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193648251

Lip fern growing out of a crack between large rock and gravely desert soil.

Coville's Lip Fern (Myriopteris covillei) A.k.a. Beady Lipfern. The reddish white scales on the leaf underside are distinctive for this species of native fern.

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Myriopteris%20covillei

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=99420

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Fern structures have their own names:
A fern’s leaf is called a frond. It is divided into pinnae, which may be subdivided into pinnules. The underside of the pinnules contain sori, which in turn contain sporangia, which produce the spores. Sori may be covered by a membrane-like indusium. A false indusium is a covering formed by a reflexed margin of the pinna/ pinnule. Not all ferns have clearly defined sori.
"Division of fern fronds: The lamina of a frond is often divided into many pinnae along the length of the rachis. The pinnae can also be divided into many pinnules. If lamina is divided only into pinnae but the pinnae are not divided into pinnules then a frond is known as being pinnately divided. If a frond does have the second division into pinnules, it is bipinnately divided. Alternatively, some fronds are divided palmately, with a number of pinnae growing from the same point on the rachis. Whether a fern has pinnate, bipinnate or palmate fronds is useful in the classification of many ferns."
https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees & Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

INaturalist Project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pioneertown-mountains-preserve-inaturalist-notebook

"The 25,500-acre Pioneertown Mountains Preserve descends from the high piney 7,800-foot ridges into the Pioneertown Valley. The small community of Pioneertown is surrounded by conservancy-owned volcanic mesas, the Sawtooth Mountains, and preserve lands leading to the San Bernardino National Forest. The preserve has year-round riparian corridors in Pipes Canyon and Little Morongo Canyons. It is an important landscape linkage between Joshua Tree National Park, San Bernardino National Forest, and the Big Horn Mountains Bureau of Land Management Wilderness.
In 2006, the vast majority of the Joshua trees, pinyon pines and junipers at Pioneertown Mountains Preserve were killed in a 70,000-acre lightning-caused fire of unprecedented magnitude. Today, much of the preserve is going through natural vegetation succession. Some scientists predict that fire succession and climate change will favor scrub oak and Joshua tree plant communities that may replace the pinyon forests. The fire laid bare the region’s rich geological backbone."

Coffee Fern (Pellaea andromedifolia) Native fern in the Brake (Pteridaceae) family that has a low spreading growth habit and grows in a variety of habitats in generally rocky or dry areas. Fronds are elongate to triangular. Pinnules are very small, round to oval, with margins that roll under. Oval shaped pinnules are pale green when young and darker blue-green when mature. Coffee Fern resembles Bird’s-foot Fern (Pellaea mucronata), but the pinnules of Coffee Fern lack the small, pointed bristle tip found on Bird’s-foot Fern.

Comparison photo (per Cedric Lee) of 2 similar Pellaea (both have rolled under leaf margins).
Coffee Fern (Pellaea andromedifolia) NO bristle tipped leaf-- on LEFT side, and

Bird's Foot Cliffbrake (Pellaea mucronata) with bristle tipped leaf-- on RIGHT side.
http://www.inaturalist.org/photos/2168173?size=medium

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Pellaea%20andromedifolia

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=36775

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 8-9.

Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 425.

Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 7.

Oregon Flora https://oregonflora.org/taxa/index.php?taxon=7041

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fern structures have their own names:
A fern’s leaf is called a frond. It is divided into pinnae, which may be subdivided into pinnules. The underside of the pinnules contain sori, which in turn contain sporangia, which produce the spores. Sori may be covered by a membrane-like indusium. A false indusium is a covering formed by a reflexed margin of the pinna/ pinnule. Not all ferns have clearly defined sori.
"Division of fern fronds: The lamina of a frond is often divided into many pinnae along the length of the rachis. The pinnae can also be divided into many pinnules. If lamina is divided only into pinnae but the pinnae are not divided into pinnules then a frond is known as being pinnately divided. If a frond does have the second division into pinnules, it is bipinnately divided. Alternatively, some fronds are divided palmately, with a number of pinnae growing from the same point on the rachis. Whether a fern has pinnate, bipinnate or palmate fronds is useful in the classification of many ferns."
https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees & Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

Coffee Fern (Pellaea andromedifolia) Native fern in the Brake (Pteridaceae) family that has a low spreading growth habit and grows in a variety of habitats in generally rocky or dry areas. Fronds are elongate to triangular. Pinnules are very small, round to oval, with margins that roll under. Oval shaped pinnules are pale green when young and darker blue-green when mature. Coffee Fern resembles Bird’s-foot Fern (Pellaea mucronata), but the pinnules of Coffee Fern lack the small, pointed bristle tip found on Bird’s-foot Fern.

Comparison photo (per Cedric Lee). Note the lack of bristle tipped leaf in P. andromedifolia on LEFT side: http://www.inaturalist.org/photos/2168173?size=medium

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Pellaea%20andromedifolia

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=36775

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 8-9.

Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 425.

Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 7.

Oregon Flora https://oregonflora.org/taxa/index.php?taxon=7041

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fern structures have their own names:
A fern’s leaf is called a frond. It is divided into pinnae, which may be subdivided into pinnules. The underside of the pinnules contain sori, which in turn contain sporangia, which produce the spores. Sori may be covered by a membrane-like indusium. A false indusium is a covering formed by a reflexed margin of the pinna/ pinnule. Not all ferns have clearly defined sori.
"Division of fern fronds: The lamina of a frond is often divided into many pinnae along the length of the rachis. The pinnae can also be divided into many pinnules. If lamina is divided only into pinnae but the pinnae are not divided into pinnules then a frond is known as being pinnately divided. If a frond does have the second division into pinnules, it is bipinnately divided. Alternatively, some fronds are divided palmately, with a number of pinnae growing from the same point on the rachis. Whether a fern has pinnate, bipinnate or palmate fronds is useful in the classification of many ferns."
https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees & Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

California Polypody (Polypodium californicum) Native, common fern that grows on rocky ledges and moist banks in many communities. Fronds are triangular to ovate. Tips are rounded. Sori are round/ovate, and appear in twin rows on underside of pinnae. Polypody ferns are all deciduous ferns, appearing shortly after winter rains and dying back in the summer.

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 6-7.

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=39351

Wildflowers of Point Lobos State Reserve, Art Muto, 2008, p. 151.

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 422.

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Fern structures have their own names:
A fern’s leaf is called a frond. It is divided into pinnae, which may be subdivided into pinnules. The underside of the pinnules contain sori, which in turn contain sporangia, which produce the spores. Sori may be covered by a membrane-like indusium. A false indusium is a covering formed by a reflexed margin of the pinna/ pinnule. Not all ferns have clearly defined sori.
"Division of fern fronds: The lamina of a frond is often divided into many pinnae along the length of the rachis. The pinnae can also be divided into many pinnules. If lamina is divided only into pinnae but the pinnae are not divided into pinnules then a frond is known as being pinnately divided. If a frond does have the second division into pinnules, it is bipinnately divided. Alternatively, some fronds are divided palmately, with a number of pinnae growing from the same point on the rachis. Whether a fern has pinnate, bipinnate or palmate fronds is useful in the classification of many ferns."
https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees & Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

Five-finger fern growing on a moist rock wall.

Five-finger Fern (Adiantum aleuticum) Native, delicate, moisture-loving fern that is found on shaded slopes and streamsides and has an affinity for serpentine soils. Fronds are arranged palmately, then pinnately divided into delicate pinnules, fringed on the lower margin. Despite the common name, there are often more than five “fingers.” Indigenous people used this fern medicinally and the smooth black stems have been used in Native American basketry.

Native American Ethnobotany: A database of plants used as drugs, foods, dyes, fibers, and more by native Peoples of North America. http://naeb.brit.org/ and http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=Adiantum+aleuticum

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=11945

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 423.

Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

What is Serpentine Soil? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpentine_soil

I-Nat Project: Serpentine endemics and related plants

I-Nat Project: Serpentine Plants of the Western United States (jhorthos on I-Nat) and 60-page slideshow (with great photos) by James H. Thomas "Recognizing Serpentine Rocks and Plants"
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ct7veutb0Gj-_nAQ8wRfhbKynVKXHtR5o4ouZC1q0gQ/edit#slide=id.p

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ANATOMY OF FERN FRONDS
Excerpt from https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds
"A fern leaf is called a frond. A stalk runs along the entire length of the frond to the tip. The stalk is separated into two parts: the stipe is the section of the stalk before any leafy part, and the rachis is the section with leafy tissue. The entire leafy portion of the frond is called the lamina. The individual leafy structures are called pinna or pinnae (plural). Pinnea are divided into smaller leaflet structures called pinnules. If the lamina is divided only into pinnae, but the pinnae are not divided into pinnules, then the frond is known as being pinnately divided. If a frond does have the second division into pinnules, it is bipinnately divided. Alternatively, some fronds are divided palmately, with a number of pinnae growing from the same point on the rachis. Whether a fern has pinnate, bipinnate or palmate fronds is useful in the classification of many ferns. Sori are the reproductive structures found on the abaxial surface (underside) of the frond. Spores are inside the sporangia which are housed within a sorus (plural sori). The sori are often protected by a thin layer of tissue called the indusium, which may be ciliated or not."

Anatomy of Fern Fronds:
https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees & Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

INaturalist Project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/fern-watch