Etymology Mucronata means having a point. See Distinctive Characteristics.

Description Rhizome: short-creeping or erect, linear brown scales, black at a center stripe.
Frond: 40 cm high by 18 cm wide, evergreen, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: .
Stipe: dark-brown to black, shiny, flattened to slightly grooved above, color extending the entire rachis, croziers slightly hairy, mainly glabrous, vascular bundles: 1.
Blade: 2-pinnate, but lower elevation forms (see below) are more divided, lanceolate, leathery, glabrous.
Pinnae: 10 to 15 pair, bluish-green, lower pinnae stalked, upper sessile, a terminal pinna like the upper lateral ones; pinnules narrowly oblong, 5 to 20 pair with a terminal segment like the pairs; the ends of the pinnules come to a sharp point (mucronate); margins usually dentate, strongly recurved; veins obscure.
Sori: oblong or linearly joined, submarginal, indusium: false, inrolled margins, covering the entire lower surface, sporangia: pale brown, maturity: summer to fall.

Culture Habitat: among granitic rocks. Distribution: mid to lower Sierra Nevada range in California. Hardy to -15°C, USDA Zone 7.

Distinctive Characteristics The sharp-pointed tips of the ultimate segments are diagnostic.

Synonyms
Allosorus mucronatus D. C. Eaton
Pellaea ornithopus Hooker
Pellaea mucronata subsp. californica (Lemmon) Windham