Leaf type: Fronds, pinnate, with narrow leaflets
Leaf margin: Smooth
Phyllotaxis: Alternate
Colour: Green
Life cycle: Perennial, evergreen
Leaf (upper side)
Habitus & biology
Polypodium vulgare is an evergreen fern with fronds that grow up to 30 centimeters long. It spreads through spores and rhizomes (runners).
Distribution & habitates
Polypodium vulgare is native to North Africa, South Africa, Europe, and northwestern Asia. This fern supposedly occurs as a neophyte in New Zealand (source).
Forests, bushes, walls, rocks, slopes. With its creeping rhizome, Polypodium vulgare finds a foothold in cracks in walls or in the furrows of tree bark. It can grow terrestrially (in the ground), epiphytically (on trees) or lithophytically (on stones).
Botany
Common polypody (Polypodium vulgare) is a member of the Polypodiaceae family.
