General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also an accent groundcover in shady, wet areas.
Availability:
Available at native plant nurseries in central Florida.
Description: Medium to large herbaceous fern.
Dimensions: Typically 2-4 feet in height. Spreading from underground stems (rhizomes) and forming patches.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Eastern and central United States west to Texas and south to Miami-Dade and Collier counties.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Swamps, marshes and wet hammocks.
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: Summer-fall.
Fruit: Inconspicuous spores.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from division, and from spores with difficulty.
