Coptis aspleniifolia, commonly known as fernleaf goldthread or spleenwort-leaf goldthread, is found in the northern two-thirds of British Columbia, in Alaska, and along the Cascades into Washington and is a native plant of the temperate rain forests of the region.

[1] It is often found in the understory of the herb layer of coniferous forests as part of a multilayered canopy system on gleysolic or organic soils.

Also found in wet woods and bogs, the fernleaf goldthread is not invasive or poisonous.

Its leaves resemble those of ferns, are all basal, dark-green and glossy and divided into five or more segments.

The fernleaf goldthread blooms in mid-spring with a pale greenish white or yellow flower.