Lygodium palmatum (Bernh.) Sw., Lygodiaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: American climbing fern, creeping fern, Hartford fern, Windsor fern

Habit:  fern

Description:  "Stems long-creeping. Leaves to ca. 3 m. Petioles borne 1-4 cm apart, 9-15 cm. Sterile pinnae on 1-2 cm stalks, very broadly ovate, deeply and palmately 3-7-lobed, 1-4 " 2-6 cm; ultimate lobes triangular-elongate to oblong; lobe apex acute to blunt or rounded; segments not articulate to petiolules, not leaving wiry stalks when detached; blade tissue pubescent abaxially with transparent hairs. Fertile pinnae stalked to ca. 1.5 cm, then " irregularly 3-5-forked or lobed, ultimate divisions palmately and sometimes irregularly lobed, smaller than sterile pinnules, 2-4 " 2-8 cm, otherwise similar; ultimate segments narrowly triangular to linear-triangular." (Flora of North America)

Habitat/ecology:  Moist acid soil of thickets, marshes and open woods (Fernald, 1970; p. 25).

Propagation:  Spores

Native range:  Eastern United States (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands	Solomon Islands		Swarbrick, John T. (1997) (p. 94)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Lygodium palmatum is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Lygodium palmatum as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Lygodium palmatum may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Fernald, M. L. 1950. Gray's manual of botany, eighth edition. American Book Co. p. 588.

Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 2011. Flora of North America North of Mexico (online edition).

Swarbrick, John T. 1997. Weeds of the Pacific Islands. Technical paper no. 209. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 124 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.