Day 350: This small rock-dwelling fern (Myriopteris gracillima, Lace Lip Fern) was a new one for me. Subalpine plant life tends to be a lot smaller than its cousins from the lowlands, and ferns are no exception. In fact, you might be forgiven for not thinking they were ferns at all, but rather the foliage of some vascular plant. The fronds of Lace Lip are only about six inches long and grow as a dense mat of greenery. The foliage is rather leathery and somewhat stiff. Recognizing it as something new for a natural-history post, I bailed over the edge of an embankment to get a closer look while Joe remained safely on trail. I thought for a minute I was going to have to ask him to pull me back up, but I managed to crawl up the scree on my own. The things we do for science!
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