General: From branched rhizomes, moderately stout, deep-seated and long creeping, leaves widely spaced, 0.4-3.5 m tall. Leaves: On straw-colored petioles, hairy below, rachises similar to petioles, straw colored to green; blades 15-100 cm wide, broadly deltate, 3-pinnate, with 14 or fewer main lateral pinnae, often opposite or nearly so; pinnae 7-50 cm long, 2-5 times as long as wide, pinnules with numerous deep lobes, sparsely to densely hairy below, margins entire to barely crenulate. Sporangia: Pseudoindusia pale or whitened, glabrous or hairy and differentiated from the blade. Ecology: Found everywhere, from woodlands to forests, along stream banks from 3,500-9,500 ft (1067-2896 m). Notes: Colonial plant, often found under canopy in moist places. In Arizona, the infraspecific taxa ssp. pubescens is indicated as being the only taxa. This taxa is considered a basionym and is equivalent to var. pubescens. Ethnobotany: Poisonous to humans, contains nerve toxins, carcinogenic and mutagenic compounds. Etymology: Pteridium is a diminutive of Pteris another genus of ferns, while aquilinum is from aquila, eagle, and the suffix ium meaning connection or resemblance.

Santa Catalina Mountains
Bear Picnic Area.
Location: 20 feet off highway shoulder.
5/17/17

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