Cystopteris protrusa

Unlike the other Cystopteris, this is a creeping plant of the forest floor rather than a compact plant of exposed rock. It's often quite abundant in bottomlands, and has a growth cycle like that of spring ephemerals; it leaves out and spores in early spring and then slowly declines through the summer.

A leaf near Griffy Lake, 7/19/03.

Sori near Griffy Lake, 7/19/03.

The tip of an expanding leaf below the dam at University Lake, 3/27/04.