Pellaea mucronata—bird's-foot fern. "Stems compact, ascending, stout, 5--10 mm diam.; scales bicolored, linear-subulate, 0.1--0.3 mm wide, centers black, thick, margins brown, thin, erose-dentate. Leaves monomorphic, clustered on stem, 7--45 cm; croziers sparsely villous. Petiole dark brown, lustrous, flattened to slightly grooved adaxially, without prominent articulation lines. Blade ovate-deltate, (2--)3-pinnate proximally, 4--18 cm wide; rachis brown throughout, straight, shallowly grooved adaxially, usually glabrous. Pinnae perpendicular to rachis to strongly ascending, not decurrent on rachis, usually with 9--40 ultimate segments; costae straight, 10--70 mm, much longer than ultimate segments. Ultimate segments narrowly oblong, 2--12 mm, leathery, glabrous; margins recurved to strongly revolute on fertile segments, usually covering more than 1/2 abaxial surface, borders greenish, usually dentate; apex mucronate. Veins of ultimate segments obscure. Sporangia short-stalked, containing 64 spores, intermixed with abundant farina-producing glands." Flora of North America "Pellaea mucronata".