Alpine Woodsia

Alpine woodsia, also called northern woodsia or alpine cliff fern, is a small fern of the cliff fern family Woodsiaceae with a circumpolar range across northern Canada, coastal Greenland, Scandinavia, the Ural and Altai mountains of Asia, and a few locations in Scotland and Wales. It closely resembles its relatives Woodsia ilvensis and Woodsia glabella and is understood to have originated as a hybrid of two parent Woodsia species. It grows in crevices, scree slopes and cliffs of slate and calcareous rock, especially limestone, and while rated Apparently Secure overall it is considered threatened or endangered in several U.S. states and near-threatened in Scotland.