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National Invasive Species Information Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Terrestrial Invasives
  3. Terrestrial Plants
  4. Old World Climbing Fern

Old World Climbing Fern

Scientific Name

Lygodium microphyllum (Cav.) R. Br. (ITIS)

Common Name

Old World climbing fern, small leaf climbing fern

Synonym

Lygodium scandens (Pemberton 1998)

Native To

Africa, Australia, and southeast Asia (Pemberton et al. 2002)

Date of U.S. Introduction

First found naturalized in the 1960s (Langeland and Hutchinson 2016)

Means of Introduction

Introduced as an ornamental (Pemberton et al. 2002)

Impact

Smothers native vegetation and increases fire risk by allowing fire to spread up trees along its vines (Langeland and Hutchinson 2016)

Current U.S. Distribution

Florida

Old world climbing fern

Old world climbing fern foliage, fertile fronds

Credit

Photo by Amy Ferriter; State of Idaho

Source
Invasive.org.

Find more images

Distribution / Maps / Survey Status

Federally Regulated

  • Import Federal Orders

    • USDA. APHIS. Plant Protection and Quarantine.

    • A Federal Order is a legal document issued in response to an emergency when the Administrator of APHIS considers it necessary to take regulatory action to protect agriculture or prevent the entry and establishment into the United States of a pest or disease. Federal Orders are effective immediately and contain the specific regulatory requirements.

  • Noxious Weeds Program

    • USDA. APHIS. Plant Protection and Quarantine.

    • Includes species listed as a Federal Noxious Weed under the Plant Protection Act, which makes it illegal in the U.S. to import or transport between states without a permit.

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Selected Resources

The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source.

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Federal Government
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Citations