Lygodium microphyllum | |
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Underside of spore-bearing leaflets, some leaflets produce spores; others don't. | |
Secure (NatureServe) |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Division: | Pteridophyta |
Class: | Polypodiopsida / Pteridopsida (disputed) |
Order: | Schizaeales |
Family: | Lygodiaceae |
Genus: | Lygodium |
Species: | L. microphyllum |
Binomial name | |
Lygodium microphyllum (Cav.) R.Br. |
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Synonyms | |
Lygodium microphyllum (commonly known as, variously, climbing maidenhair fern,Old World climbing fern,small-leaf climbing fern, or snake fern) is a climbing fern originating in tropical Africa, South East Asia, Melanesia and Australia. It is an invasive weed in the US States of Florida and Alabama where it invades open forest and wetland areas. The type specimen was collected in the vicinity of Nabúa, on the Island of Luzon in the Philippines by Luis Née.
Lygodium microphyllum is native to Africa (in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania (including the Zanzibar Archipelago), Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa); Asia (in Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan of China, and the Ryukyu Islands of Japan); Australia (in Northern Territory, Queensland, northeast New South Wales, and northern Western Australia); and the Pacific Islands of Fiji, and Micronesia's Mariana Islands and Caroline Islands.