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Rock Polypody

Polypodium virginianum

Also known as: Common Polypody

Rock polypody lives on rock: it colonizes the tops and shaded faces of mossy boulders, ledges and old stone walls, rooting in nothing more than a skin of moss and accumulated debris. Its rhizomes creep across that surface rather than down into soil, which is why a colony forms a flat green mat that can be peeled up like carpet. In drought the fronds curl inward and go dull and papery, looking dead, then rehydrate within hours of rain — a genuine resurrection habit that lets it live where no soil-rooted fern could. The fronds are simple and leathery, cut once into blunt lobes, and they stay green all winter under snow. Round sori sit in a neat row either side of the midrib on the underside, easy to see and diagnostic. It wants shade, acidic rock and moving air, and it resists transplanting into an ordinary garden bed.

Family

Polypodiaceae

Type

fern

Lifespan

perennial

Height

0.5–1 ft

Spacing

0.5–1 ft apart

Light

part shade, shade

Soil moisture

dry

Soil pH

acidic, neutral

Wildlife value

mammals, songbirds

Landscape uses

border

Native states

AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV