Etymology of California

Description Rhizome: creeping, branching, dull, not whitish waxy, moderately stout, to 10 mm diameter, acrid to sweet (but not licorice) flavored, scales lanceolate, brown or slightly darker near point of attachment.
Frond: 70 cm high by 20 cm wide, summer deciduous, monomorphic, blade/stipe ratio: .
Stipe: jointed at base, straw-colored, glabrous or scattered with thin light-brown scales, vascular bundles: 3.
Blade: pinnatifid, triangular to lanceolate-ovate, pinnatifid, usually widest near base, leathery to herbaceous, rachis downy above, a diagnostic feature, a few scattered scales on the rachis below.
Pinnae: 8 to 15 pair, linear-lanceolate to oblong, tip usually obtuse; margins serrate; veins free (more than 50%) and netted (less than 50%).
Sori: oval when immature, round later, discrete, less than 3 mm diam, midway between margin and midrib to slightly nearer the midrib; on all but the lowest pinnae of fertile fronds, indusium: absent, sporangia: yellow to brown at maturity; paraphyses absent, maturity: early winter to spring.

Culture Habitat: on rocky slopes, usually coastal. Distribution: California and Baja California. Hardy to USDA Zone 8.

Synonyms
Polypodium californicum var. kaulfussii D. C. Eaton
P. vulgare Linnaeus subsp. californicum (Kaulfuss) Hult�n
P. vulgare var. kaulfussii (D. C. Eaton) Fernald

Compare with other species in the Western North America Group