Nephrolepis cordifolia |
Nephrolepis multiflora |
|
---|---|---|
Boston fern, narrow swordfern, sword fern, tuber ladder fern, tuber sword fern, tuberous sword fern |
Asian sword fern |
|
Stem | scales spreading, concolored. |
scales appressed, bicolored with margins transparent. |
Leaves | 2.5–10.7 × 0.3–0.7 dm. |
3–25 × 0.3–1.6 dm. |
Petiole | 0.3–2 dm, moderately to densely scaly; scales spreading, pale brown throughout. |
0.4–4.4 dm, moderately to densely scaly; scales appressed, dark brown with pale margins. |
Blade | lacking scales, glabrous (rarely with a few branched hairs abaxially). |
sparsely to moderately scaly, hairy abaxially, hairs pale brown, 0.1–0.3 mm. |
Indusia | reniform to lunate or deltate-rounded, attached along broad sinus, 1.1–1.7 mm wide. |
circular to horseshoe-shaped, peltate or attached at narrow sinus, 1.1–1.3 mm wide. |
Tubers | present or absent. |
absent. |
Rachis | 2.2–9 dm, points of pinna attachment 5–12 mm apart; scales moderately spaced to dense, pale to dark brown, point of attachment distinctly darker. |
2.7–20 dm, points of pinna attachment 8–24 mm apart; scales scattered to dense, brown, margins pale. |
Central | pinnae oblong to lanceolate-oblong, straight to slightly falcate, 0.9–5 × 0.4–0.9 cm, base auriculate-cordate, acroscopically overlapping rachis, acroscopic lobe deltate, margins entire to serrulate to smoothly crenate, apex acute to bluntly rounded; costae adaxially glabrous. |
pinnae narrowly deltate, sometimes elliptic, 3.4–12.3 × 0.6–1.8 cm, base rounded basiscopically, slightly auriculate to truncate acroscopically (latter more common in sterile pinnae), acroscopic lobe acute to oblong, margins biserrate to irregularly serrate to serrulate, apex attenuate and occasionally slightly falcate; costae adaxially densely hairy, hairs pale, erect, 0.1–0.5 mm. |
2n | = 82. |
= 82. |
Nephrolepis cordifolia |
Nephrolepis multiflora |
|
Habitat | Terrestrial or epiphytic in wet, shady places, limestone ledges, cliffs, rock, roadsides, and often old homesites or waste places, widely escaped from cultivation and only questionably native to any particular region | Terrestrial or epiphytic in open waste places and roadsides |
Elevation | 0 m [0 ft] | 0 m [0 ft] |
Distribution |
FL; HI; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Africa; se Asia
|
FL [Introduced in North America] |
Discussion | Nephrolepis multiflora is native to the Old World tropics and is widely scattered and naturalized in the New World tropics as an escaped cultigen. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 2. | FNA vol. 2. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Polypodium cordifolium, Aspidium cordifolium | Davallia multiflora |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) C. Presl: Tent. Pterid. 79. (1836) | (Roxburgh) F. M. Jarrett ex C. V. Morton: Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 38: 309. (1974) |
Web links |