I found this fern a couple years ago. It was growing in a stone stairwell going to the basement of a greenhouse near Cleveland, Ohio. This would be Zone 6 (most likely). Over the stairwell was an unheated greenhouse that we were taking down. I have never seen one like this, so I brought one of them home and put it in a pot in my greenhouse to see if it would survive the move. It has done well, but I would like to know what it is also. ( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden ) This is one frond. The rest of the plant stands about 18" high x 12"wide at most. There is nothing different (to me at least) about the base of the plant. No interesting growth habit, no rhizomes. If you have any questions, say so and I'll take more pictures to show anything more you might wonder about. Thanks. brake fern ( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden ) this is the whole fern.
Could it be a Narrow Leaf Java Fern? I don't know very much about ferns I'm afraid but a friend had a NLJF and it looked a lot like your one Carolyn.
Eileen, I truly don't know, but I looked that up and they seem to be aquarium ferns. Originating from... Java, which I do believe is tropical and this zone gets down to 0f., on rare occasions. The closest I can find is one called a chain fern, and this does not have the chain on the back of the frond as indicated in the picture information. There is only one frond type in the pot that I see. There is a difference between fertile and sterile fronds. :-? I just don't know enough about them to find the answer myself. Thanks for the thought, though.
I must not have been here at the time. That doesn't ring a bell with me. I went through the Plants fern section and looked at everything that had a picture, but saw nothing similar to this one.
Carolyn maybe this website will be of some use to you. http://www.fernnursery.co.uk/page.htm I know it's UK based but there might be something that will point you in the right direction at least. Edited post to add: Theodoros has lots of different ferns and if you PM him he may be able to help you out.
I am not seeing anything there, either. It was a great site, exactly the format I need for ID, but I wasn't finding anything beyond the go to page one...was I missing something, do you think?
They have a topic heading called 'our garden fern list and fern pictures' you could try (if you haven't already.) Perhaps you could click on the 'contact us' button and send them a photograph of your fern. They might be able to ID it for you or direct you to someone who can. Good luck.
AHHH, I finally found a site that had a picture just like this one. There are sooo many varieties it is hard to find the exact one I was looking for. But evidently it is a Brake Fern/ Linnaeus / Pteris Multifida Thanks Eileen. To be more specific it is a Spider Brake Fern.
So glad you managed to find out exactly what your fern is Carolyn. I looked it up and found this information about it. Zone 7b-10, Height 18" (at least) Culture Part Sun to Light Shade Origin China I hope it continues to grow well for you.
Thanks, Eileen. I plan on putting it out in the woods and hopefully it will do okay there, too. China, huh? I wonder if the greenhouse place I found this at had an idea habitat for them. This was growing on the stone wall going down a set of steps to the boiler room/basement of this place. There were a few of them there. It must be hardier than the zone information says that it is....or maybe not, since it was down the steps, but I would think it would be just as cold there as at surface level, it was only about 3 steps down. Maybe I should divide it and plant 1/2 out and leave the other 1/2 in. carolyn
I think, to be on the safe, it should be divided as you were thinking of doing Carolyn. At least that way if one dies you still have the other.