Epiphytic Fern

[Guest]

Went for a stroll in my local woodland the other day and spied this fern growing epiphytically on a tree bough, along with moss...

 

[zozo]

Nice find!! 😎 Looks like a Polypodium (vulgare), we call it also Oakfern. Tho i nver saw it around in the woods near my place. Would love to have one in the garden. Evergreen.. 🙂

 

[Cornelius]

Nice one.
I love ferns, worked for 25 years inside greenhouses full of them.
This is my favorite: Adiantum tenerum 'Scutum Roseum'. The pink/red variation of Adiantum tenerum 'Fragrans' aka Maidenhair.

 

[Guest]

Looks like a Polypodium (vulgare), we call it also Oakfern.

Thanks Marcel, that would fit nicely, the woodland is predominantly oak. P. vulgare is apparently calcifugous, so I guess all those oak leaves make for an acidic top soil, despite the drift geology being heavy clay which usually has a high pH...although that could be why it's up a tree https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polypodium_vulgare 🙄

Thanks @Cor, maidenhair is one of my favourites as well, had one growing as a house plant once. I also remember being surprised to see one growing at the top of a grated drain manhole in a Moroccan rose farm.

 

[zozo]

I'm not very familiar with this fern spp, in our country especialy my region it's a rarety to find. Been a lot in the Belgium Rocky Ardennes and there it's a common fern growing on epiphytic rocks etc. So if it's a vulgare? is just a guess, it's a large family... The P. interjectum is very simular it seems.. 🙂 But has broader leaves..

 

[Guest]

So if it's a vulgare? is just a guess, it's a large family... The P. interjectum is very simular it seems.. 🙂

Haha...I don't know 😕...maybe Darrel will be able to identify it.

 

[zozo]

maybe Darrel will be able to identify it.

I bet he does..

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I bet he does.

I don't, definitely part of the Polypodium vulgare aggregate of species, after that <"it is a bit tricky">.

As you go North and West in the UK they (Polypodium vulgare agg.) become more common and spread out of the woods onto walls, rocks, sand dunes etc.

cheers Darrel

 

[Guest]

Thanks Darrel, that's good enough for me.
Good guess Marcel, although I suspect it was a very well educated one 🙂

 

[zozo]

Good guess Marcel, although I suspect it was a very well educated one 🙂

Thanks, but to be honnest, not a "very" educated one maybe rather a little, since i don't realy stral around in the woods with a field guide trying to identify ferns. It's next to mosses the most difficult determination to make. So sometimes i get lucky with geussing the correct family. Since i look around for native evergreens i like to have in the garden i do remember pics and leafshapes sometimes when i see one. So did your pic, i recalled seeing it before and still beeing on my wishlist. 🙂

 

[foxfish]

Interesting Tim, not uncommon where I live to see ferns growing on moss covered trees but we also get New Zealand Palm trees (cordyline) growing on trees.
I have several small ones in my garden but in some of our parks there are old trees with 6' tall palms growing in their boughs. Sometimes 30' up....

 

[Guest]

That sounds pretty weird. I once saw a silver birch sapling growing out of the crook of an old oak trunk at Chartley Moss NNR; I've got a picture of it somewhere.
That was weird as well, but then again the whole place is alien. It's the largest example of a floating peat bog in Britain.

You can jump up and down, on what at first appears to be terra firma, only to find the ground moving under your feet like you're standing on a water bed 😵 hence it's alternative name Schwingmoor or quaking bog...it's actually a thick vegetative mat over deep water. If you ever go there stick to the path and don't jump up and down incase you've accidentally strayed on to a thin patch...aside from that if you're caught you'll get told off for damaging the habitat ...😱

 

[zozo]

If you like wierd places with ferns and mosses and you ever go to Canary islands for holiday. I know a lot of Brits do, at least last time i was there i lost count. Than hop on a fery for 30 minutes to La Gomera.. Little strange island with 2 different climates. 1 is dry to the bone, and over the mountain it's damp and foggy tropical Laurel forests full with mosses and ferns.. Kinda odd like walking into a Jurasic park scenery expecting a dino to pop up from behind a tree at any moment. Especialy for aquascapers i think this is a very inspiring park to investigate..







🙂

 

[Guest]

An amazing place for sure...classic forest scape inspiration, right down to the disappearing path/stream.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

That sounds pretty weird. I once saw a silver birch sapling growing out of the crook of an old oak trunk at Chartley Moss NNR; I've got a picture of it somewhere.
That was weird as well, but then again the whole place is alien.

I like a good peat bog. You often get Holly trees growing on other trees as well.

but we also get New Zealand Palm trees (cordyline) growing on trees.

I've seen this in S. Ireland as well, I don't know if any NZ members can tell us whether it happens in NZ?

As you get further west in the UK you get more and more different epiphytes. (This is <"Wistman's wood"> on Dartmoor).



Trees that start as epiphytes are common in the wet tropics, like the "Strangler" Figs. From <"New plant Zongo">



cheers Darrel

 

[foxfish]

We spent a few mouths in New Zealand earlier this year, I am having issues posting pics at the moment. I cant upload form my ipad?

 

[foxfish]

I get this.... any ideas as I have not had this before?

 

[zozo]

Yes i recall having this with one particuler picture, just don't remember if it was here at UKAPS.. Opened it with MSPaint, cut off a small piece and saved it again as .jpg. Than it was ok.. I guess it is something in the metadate hidden in the file. 🙂 But it looks like yu're using the Ipad, so no idea if this has an image editor..

 

[foxfish]

OK, well while I try and sort the NZ pics here are a few ferns in my teterium set up..

 

[foxfish]