Common Name: sword fern
Family: Nephrolepidaceae
Common Synonyms: none
USDA Hardiness Zone: 8b-10b
Growth Habit: Forb/Herb
Origin: Unknown
FISC Category: 1
FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No
Introduction Date: Earliest Florida specimen available vouchered in 1933
IFAS Assessment:
Wood fern that typically grows in woodland areas. Both fertile and sterile fronds are pinnate, up to 3 feet in length and 3 inches wide. There are many leaflets, or pinnae, ranging from 40-100 mm (1.5 to 4 inches) on each side of the rachis. Each pinna is oblong to lanceolate with an auricle that overlaps rachis. Rhizomes are orange/brown to pale brown with linear scales having hair like tips. Stolons are straw colored and produce small underground tubers. The presence of tubers distinguishes sword fern from the native Nephrolepis exaltata fern. Numerous sori (spore containing structures) are also produced between the leaflet midvein and margin.
Wet hammocks, usually on limestone or around old homesites and disturbed places, sometimes epiphytic.
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http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-profiles/http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-profiles/ accessed 13 June, 2017
http://davesgarden.com accessed 13 June, 2017
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500798