Small-leaved Climbing Fern

The state of Florida has prohibited this species as a noxious weed.

It is one of only nine species prohibited by the count...Read Morey where I've gardened in West Palm Beach, FL, on grounds of its invasiveness.

The Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council has listed this species as a Category l invasive.

The usual common name is "old world climbing fern".

This fern is a very invasive exotic in central and southern Florida, zones 9 and 10. It is capable of climbing over 25 meters to the tre...Read Moreetops and of smothering entire forests in just a few years of growth. A great deal of money is being spent on controlling its spread, but without a lot of success, since the spores can spread long distances by wind and establish new colonies. Do not plant this fern anywhere in the humid subtropics!

Update - On January 2, 2005 I first found this growing in my Sebring garden, in a shaded woodland area. I know it was not there just a month or so before. I suspect that the hurricanes of 2004 spread the spores around the area even more than before, and I anticipate that many more sites will pop up for this invasive species this year. Mine has been destroyed!