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Lygodium microphyllum

Common Name: Old World climbing fern

Family: Schizaeaceae

Common Synonyms: none

USDA Hardiness Zone: 9a-11

Growth Habit: Vine (Fern)

Origin: Africa to Southeast Asia, South Pacific, Australia

FISC Category: 1

FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: Yes

Introduction Date: pre-1958

IFAS Assessment:

  • North: PROHIBITED
  • Central: PROHIBITED
  • South: PROHIBITED
Lygodium microphyllum
Amy Jenkins
Lygodium microphyllum
Robert Gundy

Description

Fern with dark brown, wiry rhizomes and climbing, twining fronds of indeterminate growth, to 30 m long, main rachis (leaf stalk above petiole) wiry, stemlike. Leafy branches off main rachis (constituting the pinnae) once compound, oblong in overall outline, 5-12 cm long. Leaflets (pinnules) usually unlobed, stalked, articulate (leaving wiry stalks when detached), glabrous below. Fertile leaflets of similar size, fringed with tiny lobes of enrolled leaf tissue covering the sporangia along the leaf margin.

Habitat

Hardwood hammocks, mesic flatwoods, forested swamps, wet flatwoods, hydric hammocks, floodplain forests, strand swamps, and ruderal communities.

Comments

Established in south and central zones, possibly to limit of cold tolerance.

Map of species distribution

Control Methods

  • Manual: NA
  • Chemical: Foliar-for ground applications, cut plants that grow high into trees, thoroughly spray foliage to wet with 1-2% glyphosate, 2% triclopyr amine, 1% imazapic, or equivalent of 1-2 oz metsulfuron/100 gallon diluent, light infestations use 2-4% glyphosate (low volume). For aerial application, 7.5 pints glyphosate or 2 ounces metsulfuron in sufficient volume and using spray pattern to maximize coverage. [IFAS]
  • Biological: NA

Control Notes

NA

References

Langeland, K.A., H.M. Cherry, C.M. McCormick, K.C. Burks. 2008. Identification and Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas-Second Edition. IFAS Publication SP 257. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Langeland, K.A., J.A. Ferrell, B. Sellers, G.E. MacDonald, and R.K. Stocker. 2011. Integrated management of non-native plants in natural areas of Florida. EDIS publication SP 242. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Dave's Garden. 2013. PlantFiles: Small-leaved climbing fern, Lygodium microphyllum. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/31878/. Accessed on December 11, 2013.

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