Etymology Refers to Alabama, where the fern can be found.

Description Rhizome: short-creeping, scales orange, linear, with a brown central stripe near the base.
Frond: 40 cm high by 6 cm wide, deciduous in colder areas, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: 2:3.
Stipe: black, rounded above, the color extending into the rachis and costae, a few scales at base, whitish, matted hairs when young, vascular bundles: 1.
Blade: 2-pinnate-pinnatifid at the base, less above, lanceolate, papery, gray-green above, white-waxy below, rachis with tortuous, appressed hairs above, sparse below, lamina appearing glabrous or sparsely hairy above and below.
Pinnae: 15 to 25 pair, ± equilateral; segments segment margins inrolled; margins serrate; veins free, obscure.
Sori: linear, continuous, submarginal, indusium: false, continuous along the margin, sporangia: black.

Culture Habitat: calcareous rock slopes in shade. Distribution: southern United States, northern Mexico, Jamaica. Hardy to -15°C, USDA Zone 7.

Synonyms
Pteris alabamensis Buckley
Pellaea alabamensis (Buckley) Hooker