Polypodium- a genus of ferns of the Polypodiaceae family, includes, according to various estimates, 75-100 species.
Polypodium is an ordinary, or Sweet Fern (Polypodium vulgare) genus that inhabits the forest zone, the alpine, subalpine and alpine tundra zones of the temperate part of the northern hemisphere and in some places of the temperate zone of the southern hemisphere. It is found in cliffs and on rocks, often suede.
A rare occurrence. The only fern epiphyte growing in the climate of Central Russia. Epiphytes are plants that live not on the ground but on trees (in the south), on stone walls of houses, especially in humid areas such as the Baltic Sea islands, Valaam Island, etc. The plant is winter-hardy.
Short evergreen fern with leathery, coat-complex leaves up to 20 cm long. The rhizome creeping, covered with golden-brown scales, has a sweet taste, thanks to which it received the folk name “sweet root”.
Soruses are arranged in two rows along the central vein, initially golden, later dark. The spores ripen in the first half of summer. The plant is original, but quite capricious. It can be recommended for growing only near water bodies, in a place protected from cold winds, in the shade. Reproduces easily – pieces of rhizomes. Transplanted in spring (in May), quickly takes root.
