Ontario Ferns website

Polypody
Polypodium virginianum

Polypody (Polypodium virginianum) Other common names: Common Polypody, Rock Cap Fern, Rock Polypody, Rock Polypody Fern

Other scientific names: Polypodium vinlandicum, Polypodium vulgare

Family: Polypody Family (Polypodiaceae)

Distinctive features: Small ferns, les than 1 foot tall. On rocks in shady places. Often found alongside Cedars.

Similar species:
  •   Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) - larger, leaflets different, doesn't grow in rocks.

  •   Northern Holly Fern (Polystichum lonchitis) - much larger, leaflets different.

  •   Ebony Spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron) - stalk dark-coloured.


Fronds: Once divided

Habitat: Usually shaded woods.

Native/Non-native: Native

Status: Common.

Origin and Meaning of Names:
 Scientific Name: virginianum: of Virginia


Photographs: 170 photographs available, of which 11 are featured on this page. SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOGRAPHS.

Range Map is at the bottom of the page

Polypody (Polypodium virginianum)

A patch of Polypody on a shaded wooded slope on Lake Superior.

Polypody (Polypodium virginianum)

In the deep woods. Note how these ferns grow singly from the ground.

Polypody (Polypodium virginianum)

Nice patch with late afternoon sun shining through the leaves in November.

Polypody (Polypodium virginianum)

Typical Polypody habitat. There's a patch of it in the foreground, Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) trees all around, shaded, on the top of the Niagara Escarpment.

Polypody (Polypodium virginianum)

A single frond.

Polypody (Polypodium virginianum)

Polypody (Polypodium virginianum)

The underside of a frond.

Polypody (Polypodium virginianum)

Sun shining through a fertile frond, showing the arrangement of the sori - in neat rows on either side of the central vein.

Polypody (Polypodium virginianum)

Sori on underside of pinnae in early November.

Polypody (Polypodium virginianum)

Herbarium specimen showing the growth form of this fern.

(Royal Botanical Gardens Herbarium,Burlington,Ontario).

Polypody (Polypodium virginianum)

Herbarium specimen showing the root.

(Royal Botanical Gardens Herbarium,Burlington,Ontario).


Range map for Polypody (Polypodium virginianum)

PLEASE NOTE: A coloured Province or State means this species occurs somewhere in that Province/State.
The entire Province/State is coloured, regardless of where in that Province/State it occurs.

(Range map provided courtesy of the USDA website and is displayed here in accordance with their Policies)