General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts.
Description: Large herbaceous fern.
Dimensions: About 3-4 feet in height. Spreads from underground stems and forms large patches.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Miami-Dade and Collier counties north to Brevard, Lake and Levy counties; disjunct in Liberty and Franklin counties; Louisiana; West Indies, Mexico, Central America, South America and Old World.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Wet hammocks and swamps.
Soils: Seasonally wet to moist, moderately well-drained to poorly-drained organic soils.
Nutritional Requirements: Moderate; can grow in nutrient poor soils, but needs some organic content to thrive.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.
Light Requirements: Light shade.
Flower Color: N/A.
Flower Characteristics: There are no flowers; the plants reproduce by spores.
Flowering Season: All year.
Fruit: Inconspicuous spores.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from spores with difficulty, and division.
