Blechnum spicant, deer fern
Matthews, Robin F. 1993. Blechnum spicant, deer fern. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/blespi
| Abbreviation | Common Name | Scientific Name | Classification | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plants | ||||
| BLESPI | deer fern | Blechnum spicant | Life Form: Plants/Fern or Fern Ally, Plants/Forb Kingdom: Plantae Class: Fern or moonwort Order: Polypodiales Family: Blechnaceae Genus: Blechnum | Fed. Protected: No Nativity: Native Invasiveness: Noninvasive |
Taxonomy
The currently accepted scientific name of deer fern is Blechnum spicant (L.) Roth [7,21,22,31]. A typical subspecies and B. spicant ssp. nipponicum (Kunze) Love and Love are recognized [7,22].
Synonyms
- Lomaria spicant (L.) Desv.
- Struthiopteris spicant (L.) Weiss
- Osmunda spicant L. [7,22,31]
Other Common Names
hard fern
General Distribution
Deer fern has a sporadic circumpolar distribution. In North America it is distributed from coastal Alaska to California (Del Norte to Santa Cruz counties). Deer fern occurs mostly west of the Cascade Range but is also found in northern Idaho [7,15,21,31].
States and Provinces
- United States: AK CA ID OR WA
- Canada: BC
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].
Plant Communities
Deer fern is an indicator of moist to wet forests from sea level to montane zones in southwestern Washington and western Oregon [15,28]. It is also an indicator of moist to wet, poor-nutrient to moderate-nutrient forests in British Columbia [24]. Deer fern is scattered to abundant, and occasionally dominant, in understories of old-growth forests on "water-receiving" sites [25]. Publications listing deer fern as a dominant or codominant understory component include the following:
- Natural vegetation of Oregon and Washington [12]
- Gradient structure of forest vegetation in the central Washington Cascades [8]
- Plant communities in the old-growth forests of north coastal Oregon [20]
- Forest associations of Little Lost Man Creek, Humboldt County, California: reference-level in the hierarchical structure of old-growth coastal redwood vegetation [27]
Some species commonly associated with deer fern include Alaska-cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis), noble fir (Abies procera), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), Alaska blueberry (Vaccinium alaskensis), red huckleberry (V. parviflorum), thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), salmonberry (R. spectabilis), devil's club (Oplopanax horridus), menziesia (Menziesia ferruginea), salal (Gaultheria shallon), Oregon oxalis (Oxalis oregana), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), false lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum dilatatum), twisted stalk (Streptopus spp.), threeleaf foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata), woodnymph (Moneses uniflora), pioneer violet (Viola glabrella), western swordfern (Polystichum munitum), ladyfern (Athyrium filix-femina), bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), oakfern (Gymnocarpium dryopteris), woodfern (Dryopteris spp.), stiff clubmoss (Lycopodium annotinum), and many species of mosses [1,6,17,20].
Botanical Description
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 (Raunkiaer 1934)
- Chamaephyte
- Geophyte
Seasonal Development
No entry.
Regeneration Processes
Deer fern reproduces from spores and by sprouting from rhizomes.
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].
Immediate Fire Effects
Deer fern is probably top-killed by fire. Rhizomes may survive light surface fires.
Postfire Regeneration Strategy (Stickney 1989)
- Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
- Secondary colonizer - off-site seed
Fire Adaptations
Fire is infrequent in the cool, wet forests in which deer fern is found. Fire intervals are estimated to be several hundred years. When large-scale fires do occur, they are usually catastrophic [3]. Deer fern may colonize sites after small patch fires by spores or the spread of rhizomes from adjacent unburned areas.
Plant Response to Fire
Information on the response of deer fern to fire is sparse. It was not destroyed by a March fire in a Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris) stand in Great Britain, and survived by sprouting from rhizomes. It had a postfire frequency of 95 percent in the year of the fire and in the first two postfire years [35].
Frequent, light surface fires encourage redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)/deer fern forest associations in northern California [27]. Deer fern probably survives these low-severity fires by sprouting from surviving rhizomes.
Fire Regimes
For fire regime information, search FEIS for this species by entering the species name or acronym on the home page and selecting “Fire Regime” as the publication type.
Fire Management Considerations
No entry.
Federal Status
None
Other Status
The Heritage Program has classified deer fern as secure globally but imperiled in Idaho. The Forest Service and BLM list deer fern as sensitive in Idaho [30].
Importance to Wildlife and Livestock
Deer fern provides valuable forage for Columbian and Sitka back-tailed deer, white-tailed deer, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, Rocky Mountain elk, Roosevelt elk, moose, and caribou [2,5,16,23].
Palatability and Nutritional Value
No entry.
Cover Value
No entry.
Value for Rehabilitation or Restoration of Disturbed Sites
No entry.
Other Uses
Deer fern is easily propagated and is planted as an ornamental [15,21].
Deer fern roots have been used for medicinal purposes by American Indians [37].
Other Management Considerations
No entry.
Table A1— Forest and range ecosystems, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) physiographic regions, Kuchler plant associations, Society for American Foresters (SAF) forest cover types, and Society for Rangeland Management (SRM) rangeland cover types in which this species occurs.
Forest and Range Ecosystems (Garrison et al. 1977)
- FRES20 Douglas-fir
- FRES22 Western white pine
- FRES23 Fir - spruce
- FRES24 Hemlock - Sitka spruce
- FRES25 Larch
- FRES27 Redwood
- FRES28 Western hardwoods
BLM Physiographic Regions (Bernard and Brown 1977)
- 1 Northern Pacific Border
- 2 Cascade Mountains
- 3 Southern Pacific Border
- 4 Sierra Mountains
Kuchler Plant Associations (Kuchler 1964)
- K001 Spruce - cedar - hemlock forest
- K002 Cedar - hemlock - Douglas-fir forest
- K003 Silver fir - Douglas-fir forest
- K004 Fir - hemlock forest
- K006 Redwood forest
- K012 Douglas-fir forest
- K013 Cedar - hemlock - pine forest
- K014 Grand fir - Douglas-fir forest
- K015 Western spruce - fir forest
- K025 Alder - ash forest
- K029 California mixed evergreen forest
SAF Cover Types (Eyre 1980)
- 201 White spruce
- 205 Mountain hemlock
- 206 Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
- 212 Western larch
- 213 Grand fir
- 215 Western white pine
- 221 Red alder
- 222 Black cottonwood - willow
- 223 Sitka spruce
- 224 Western hemlock
- 225 Western hemlock - Sitka spruce
- 226 Coastal true fir - hemlock
- 227 Western redcedar - western hemlock
- 228 Western redcedar
- 229 Pacific Douglas-fir
- 230 Douglas-fir - western hemlock
- 231 Port-Orford-cedar
- 232 Redwood
- 234 Douglas-fir - tanoak - Pacific madrone
SRM Rangeland Cover Types (Shiflet 1994)
- No entry
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