United States, Minnesota, Cook, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Rugged bedrock terrain at the east end of Brule Lake, 18 miles northwest of Grand Marais. T63N R2W N1/2 of NW1/4 of NE1/4 Sec. 16
Local on anorthosite cliffs on the extremely steep mid- to upper south-facing slope of a bedrock hill which rises 120-200 feet above the small stream connecting Brule Bay to Vernon Lake (the stream drops 80 feet over a series of cascades, with a short reach flowing beneath talus). Dry-mesic, mossy, shaded settings in crevasses and below Abies balsamea Betula papyrifera, B. cordifolia, and Thuja occidentalis. In crevices and on ledges of the little-fractured but much broken and blocky cliff face. Widely scattered patches.
Associates include Dryopteris fragrans, Polypodium virginianum.