Climbing Ferns
Lygodium japonicum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Pteridophyta Class: Pteridopsida Order: Schizeales Family: Lygodiaceae Genus: Lygodium
Species
Lygodium palmatum - American climbing fern Lygodium japonicum - Japanese climbing fern Lygodium microphyllum

The Climbing Ferns are an unusual group of plants (genus Lygodium) of tropical zones, with one temperate and one subtropical species. They are unique among plants in that the rachis, or midrib, of the frond is thin, flexible, and long - the frond unrolling with indeterminate growth and the rachis twining around supports, so that each frond forms a distinct vine. The fronds may be from three to ten meters long, depending on the species. Download high resolution version (800x1067, 276 KB)The Climbing Fern, Lygodium japonicum, photographed in Hawaii where it is sparingly naturalized. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Divisions Green algae Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum... Classes Marattiopsida Osmundopsida Gleicheniopsida Pteridopsida A fern, or pteridophyte, is any one of a group of some twenty thousand species of plants classified in the Division Pteridophyta, formerly known as Filicophyta. ... Subclasses Subclass: Cyatheatae Subclass: Schizaeatae Subclass: Pteriditae Subclass: Polypoditae The Pteridopsida is a class of plants in the Division Pteridophyta that includes the modern ferns. ... Families Schizeaeceae Anemiaceae Lygodiaceae The Schizeales is an order of ferns (Class Pteridopsida). ... A fern with simple (lobed or pinnatifid) blades, the dissection of each blade not quite reaching to the rachis. ... This Australian tree fern is producing a new frond by the process of circinate vernation Vernation (from vernal, since that is when leaves spring forth in Temperate regions) is the formation of new leaves or fronds. ... The term vine was originally a term for the plant on which grapes grew, from the word for wine (Greek oinos), for which grapes were grown. ...

The one temperate species, the American Climbing Fern, (Lygodium palmatum, shown in photograph below) is rare throughout its range in the United States and requires intensely acidic soil. On the other hand, two other species - Lygodium japonicum and Lygodium microphyllum - are exotic weeds throughout the deep south of the U. S., growing in a variety of soils. Lygodium japonicum is sparsely naturalized in Hawai'i. For the heavy metal band see Soil (band) Soil is a general term for the material that lies on the surface of the earth, supporting the growth of plants and serving as a habitat for animal life from microrganisms to small animals. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Map of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of islands that stretches 2,400 km in a northwesterly direction from the southern tip of the Island of Hawai‘i. ...

Habit of the American Climbing fern, Lygodium palmatum