“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” wrote 19th century philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. What he was saying, in a highbrow and antiquated way, was not to do the same thing repeatedly without thought.
Luckily, the local plants do not concern themselves with consistency. Most are currently recovering from a dry period in May and the first half of June, but a few have remained unswervingly green.
Aside from the pines, magnolias and live oaks, there has been green in the branches of some hardwood trees which went through the recent dry patch. Resurrection ferns have stayed green in their sheltered perches as the weather fluctuates.
Pleopeltis polypodioides, the scientific name for this native fern, has easily flourished through the recent mini-drought with sufficient moisture. This creeping, coarse-textured fern is commonly found in the southeastern United States, but also in some African locations.
Resurrection ferns are found in many mature hardwood trees. This fern is an air plant which can flourish on skimpy amounts of water and plant nutrients.
It has been commonly identified as a resurrection fern because it has the capacity to survive long periods of drought. During dry times the leaves brown and wither, but the roots and leaves survive by stingily conserving water.
When rains return this fern quickly regenerates by promptly circulating water to the leaves through the plant’s highly efficient vascular system. To the casual observer, it appears to return from the dead in about a day.
The resurrection fern is an air plant, or epiphyte, which attaches itself to other plants. It receives the necessary plant nutrients for growth from several sources.
Bacterial activity on the outer surface of its plant host’s bark is a major contributor. The outer bark layer of many plants and trees is in the process of being shed and is an ideal location for this fern to grow.
Other tiny particles of nutrients are delivered through rain water and on the breezes. Though meager in life sustaining supplies, the resurrection fern flourishes in this harsh environment where most plants would quickly die.
Though usually located on tree branches, resurrection ferns are sometime seen growing on rocks, bricks or deadfall logs. It is not rare to see this fern growing with another native epiphytic plant, Spanish moss.
This plant’s root system is tiny and shallow, as could be expected of a fern which grows on the outer layer of bark. It uses an intricate mesh of rhizomes which meander just beneath the bark’s surface.
These rhizomes are part of the fern’s ability to spread along the branches and colonize new sites on the tree or plant. Periodically the roots will emerge on the bark’s surface and sprout leaves.
The other method of propagation and species preservation is through spores which are produced on the underside of the leaves. Most leaf tips have a mechanism to generate a high volume of tiny wind-delivered spores.
During summer and early autumn, the spores ripen and are scattered on the prevailing breezes. While only a tiny fraction make it to a hospitable site, the ones which do quickly establish themselves.
So, if 2021 produces a dry or wet summer, resurrection ferns will be here. If only other plants were that predictable and consistent in their performance.
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