Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Lygodium microphyllum

Edible: Leaves, Fronds, Shoots, Rhizomes, Root, Vegetable

A climbing fern which keeps growing from year to year. It grows 1-3 m long and spreads 30-90 cm wide. It has slender twining stems. The leaf is the climbing part. The stalk branches and produces 6-10 small fronds. The leaves are smooth fronds. They are divided into leaflets along the stalk. The leaflets are light green with short stalks. The leaflets are 6 cm long. The edges have fine teeth. The spores are produced on fertile leaflets which are smaller than the others. These ones have lobes on the edge. The slender, horizontal, underground stems are fleshy and brittle.

It is a tropical plant. It can grow in warm temperate regions. It grows naturally in monsoon forest near freshwater streams. It grows naturally in mountain forest. It can form thickets in swampy coastal country. It suits hardiness zones 10-12. Mt Cootha Botanical Gardens.

Common Names: Climbing maidenhair fern, Snake Fern, Lota dhekia, Kishor kosak, Ribu-ribu, Sama-hondo

Synonyms: 

Lygodium scandens Swartz.;
Ophioglossum scandens L.;
Ugena microphylla Cav.;