Even on the doorstep of autumn, panhandle Florida is associated with many outdoor activities. The brightly lit beaches still attract sunbathers and fishing enthusiasts, prompting the need for sunscreen and a wide variety of hydration options.
Football is replacing baseball as another solar-soaked September pastime. Want-to-be gridiron experts, of all ages, spend their weekends and spare time plying their skills and analyzing the abilities of others.
Even the air-conditioned gardeners who prefer the cool, dry air to the sultry humidity want the sun beaming on their special patch of horticultural paradise. But there is another domain where sunlight is a flickering trace and dim shade sequesters plants which rarely experience direct sun.
Chief among the plants in the shadows are ferns. Their lacy, delicate appearance belies an exceptional hardiness and prehistoric lineage.
Old World Climbing fern (Lygodium japonicum) is a problem for both natural areas and residential sites. Its aggressive growth pattern covers plants, trees, fences and everything else under a dense tangle of vines and leaves. Leaves exposed to long hours of sun tend to be lighter in color.
Fossil records indicate the earliest fern first appeared 360 million years ago in the late Devonian epoch, the warm period when land was first emerging from the primordial oceans.
In the days before the dinosaurs, these primitive vascular plants had no blooms to produce seeds, so they used spores to spread and establish a presence in new areas. Unlike mosses, these early ferns had stems and were able to efficiently move water within the plant.
Many currently existing ferns have had their heritage traced back to the Cretaceous period, 145 million years ago. Even though flowering plants had already emerged, the ferns remained viable during this period of warm temperatures and giant, cinema-worthy creatures.
Over this great period of time ferns have adapted to a wide variety of habitats. They can currently be found in mountainous regions, deserts and the heavily shaded woodlands of Florida’s panhandle.
The extended heredity also helped ferns adjust to a variety of soil conditions. Some ferns flourish in acidic soils, others in alkaline. North Florida has both.
While ferns may have the image of mundane potted plants, some are major invasive pests. Both the Bracken fern and the Old World Climbing Fern fit in this classification and grow quite well in this region.
The Bracken fern is a common perennial which grows in both wet and dry soil, preferring heavily shaded environments. It is most commonly encountered along tree lines, in forest meadows and around building foundations.
This fern is a poisonous plant which is sometime eaten by livestock when forage is short. All parts of the plant are toxic, with the highest levels being in the below-ground rhizomes.
Old World Climbing fern (Lygodium japonicum) is an exotic invasive with the potential, in the opinion of some, to be as big a problem as kudzu. The feathery leaves hide the aggressively growing thin vines which propel this plant to the top of anything which is in its way.
During wildfire season this plant provides a fire bridge to the crown of trees and plants. An uncontrolled fire will quickly engulf and destroy the vegetation by way of the dried vines and leaves.
The potted ferns seen in retailers and garden centers are likely propagated in Pierson, Florida. This east coast city in the state provides almost all the cut ferns for flower arrangements and potted ferns domestically.
This Volusia County town has plenty of artificial and natural shade, but lots of sun too.
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