Partnerships for New Jersey Plant Conservation

Curly grass fern Schizea pusilla

Drawing by Elayne Leighton

Curly grass fern

Curly grass fern is a listed Pinelands species and is state ranked S3.

The botanical name of curly grass fern is Schizea pusilla. Curly grass fern does not look very much like a fern. It is a tiny evergreen with very curly leaf blades. It is found around the edges of acidic sphagnum and cedar bogs and swamps in moist sandy spots. This curious little plant was discovered in 1805, Witmer Stone reports, at Quaker Bridge in the Pine Barrens. Those were the days of stagecoaches and dirt roads. Botanists came from all over the world to study it.