Resurrection fern

During my recent working trip to Dadeville, I would drive to the local hardware store or corner gas station from time to time. By the way, how great are those old time hardware stores! My little forays to pick up mortar mix or a Diet Mountain Dew would always direct me by a little house off the road with a giant oak tree smack dab in the middle of the front yard. Growing all over its massive branches was this tiny fern...clusters of them, happy and green, a sight to be seen.



Of course, Resurrection fern is not an oddity in the South (and it does grow as far North as Delaware). If you are out and about and looking for it, you'll probably see the little evergreen fern pretty quickly. Every now and then, you'll likely spot an old Oak tree that is pert near full of them, except for the sunniest parts of the tree. It's really a pretty sight.



Resurrection fern is an epiphyte (air plant) that grows along the narrow cracks and furrows of its host tree's bark, getting nutrients that collect on the outer surface of bark. It is not a parasite, like Mistletoe, and it does not harm or damage the tree it is growing on.
When dry, the resurrection fern is gray, scaly and curled up in a wad, but when moisture returns, the fronds resurrect becoming soft and green and unfurling to regain its original shape.



If you don't have resurrection fern growning on trees in your yard, you can grab a starter plant from a fallen branch in the woods and squeeze several inches of the fern's rhizome into the furrows of the bark of its new host. Keep it moistened from time to time until it takes hold and begins growing on its own.
ps...thank you, floridata.com for the lovely pics