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Old World |
| University of Florida, IFAS, Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants |
St. Johns River Water Management District |
How To Identify Old World Climbing Fern
Old World climbing fern is a fern with climbing fronds. What looks like a stem is actually a climbing, freely branching, leaf (frond) which may become as much as 100 feet long. The leafy branches off the main stem are 2-5 inches long. Old World climbing fern has two types of leaflets on its climbing leaf. The leaflet with the simple (unlobed) outline is a normal vegetative leaflet. The more convoluted leaflet has sporangia along its margin, which produce spores leading to the development of gametophytes. Gametophytes are separate small plants that produce sexual cells, which unite to form an embryo and ultimately a new climbing fern. This alternating of vegetative and reproductive plants as separate generations is typical of most ferns. The reproductive plants (gametophytes) are usually very small, and rarely seen without considerable detective work.
For more information and pictures about Old World climbing
fern, as
contained in the Langeland/Burks book, Identification & Biology of Non-Native Plants in
Florida's Natural Areas, download this Acrobat .PDF file.
University of Florida researchers are
investigating
Lygodium microphyllum's role in Florida ecosystems.
The UF/IFAS Assessment lists plants according to their invasive status in Florida. View the list here.
Click here
to see the herbarium specimen image of the
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA HERBARIUM DIGITAL IMAGING PROJECTS.