Purple Cliffbrake

The purple cliffbrake, also called the purple-stem cliffbrake, is a fern of the family Pteridaceae native to North and Central America. It produces arching fronds with purple stems and a blue-gray blade, the upper leaflets long and narrow while the lower ones divide into three to fifteen segments, and it is distinguished from the similar smooth cliffbrake by hairs on its leaf axis and on the underside of its leaflet midribs. It requires a calcareous substrate, growing in dry limestone cliff crevices, rocky slopes, limestone alvars, and mortared walls.