This is a fern P. atropurpurea commonly known as purple-stem cliffbrake or just purple cliffbrake. Brake is an old word for fern related to the word bracken. Like many other members of the Pteridaceae it is a rock plant needing a calcareous substrate.P. atropurpurea is an apogamous autotriploid with 3n=87 (actual base number n=29) and is one of the historical parents of the hybrid species complex Pellaea glabella.
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