General: Cochise Scaly Cloak Ferns (Astrolepis cochisensis) are small ferns with leaflets that are generally all the same size and lobed (0-3 lobes). The leaflets appear hairy with star-shaped scales on the upper surface and lanceolate scales beneath. Cochise Scaly Cloak Ferns grow in full desert sun, sometime next to cacti.

Cochise Scaly Cloak Fern is a rare component of desert vegetation communities along limestone washes and on dry hillsides in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone. This fern usually is found in dry, limestone places in cracks and under boulders or in the shade of other plants, but sometimes it is found on open, rocky hillsides in the full sun. This fern is not usually associated with water.

Look for this species in Gold Butte National Monument and Grand Canyon -- Parashant National Monument.

Family: Brake (Pteridaceae). Formerly Cheilanthes cochisensis, Notholaena sinuata var. cochisensis