Old World Climbing Fern

Old World climbing fern makes its way up stems and trunks of other plants, forming blankets of light-green vegetation. On the ground, it smothers grasses, shrubs, and small trees, infesting over 100,000 acres in Florida and showing no sign of slowing.

UF/IFAS Sites

• Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants
• Identify Plants in Your Region--Florida Invasive Plant Education Initiative & Curriculum
• IFAS Assessment of the Status of Non-native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas
• Innocent Looking Fern is a Real Threat
• Non-native Invasive Plants: Old World Climbing Fern
• What is It? Plant ID Services--Florida Invasive Plant Education Initiative & Curriculum

UF/IFAS Publications

• Climbing Fern Swallowing Up More and More of Florida's Forests
• Fun with Ferns: Not!
• Invasive Plant Lays Claim to Wild Areas of South Florida
• Invasive Species
• Natural Area Weeds: Old World Climbing Fern (Lygodium microphyllum)
• The Story Behind the IFAS Assessment of the Status of Non-native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas

Other Sites

• Getting Atop Climbing Fern--USDA Agricultural Research Service
• Invasive and Noxious Plants--NRCS/USDA
• Invasive Exotic Plants--Florida Native Plants Society
• Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council