BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Blechnum spicant | Deer Fern 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Deer fern fronds are dimorphic.  Sterile leaves are evergreen and are
spreading or appressed to the ground.  They are usually 4 to 16 inches
(10-40 cm) long.  Fertile leaves are fewer in number, deciduous, and
much longer than the sterile leaves.  Sporangia are confluent and
parallel to the midrib.  Deer fern has woody rhizomes [7,22,31].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Chamaephyte
   Geophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Deer fern reproduces from spores and by sprouting from rhizomes.


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Deer fern is found in moist to wet forests and generally on heavily
shaded sites [21].  It is an indicator of hypermaritime to maritime
subalpine boreal and summer-wet cool mesothermal climates.  It is found
on fresh to very moist nitrogen-poor soils and grows best on
well-decomposed organic material and nutrient-rich soils produced from
decaying wood.  Deer fern is very sensitive to frost [25].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Deer fern is shade tolerant [25].  It is found in old-growth and climax
western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)-Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis)
stands in southeast Alaska.  Disturbance in these cool, wet forests is
generally from windthrow or logging.  After disturbance, deer fern forms
dense clumps if tree regeneration is sparse, but declines in cover as
the shrub layer develops (20-25 years after logging).  After 50 to 60
years, ferns, including deer fern, begin to increase in abundance and
cover and eventually dominate the understory [1].  Deer fern is found in
old-growth and climax western hemlock, Sitka spruce, western redcedar
(Thuja plicata), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and Pacific silver
fir (Abies amabilis) forests throughout its range [11,12,13,18,19,33,36].

Along the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, deer fern
may be present in young seral stands in floodplain succession.  However,
its cover increases in climax stages and it is typical of the rich
climax forests of the region [6].  Deer fern was present on shaded sites
within 6 years following logging in white spruce (Picea glauca) stands
in British Columbia [9].  It was also present 5 years after clearcuts in
Douglas-fir stands in Washington [29].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Species: Blechnum spicant | Deer Fern