Nephrolepis exaltata
The wild sword fern of Florida's hammocks and the American tropics, and the parent of the Boston fern cultivar 'Bostoniensis' found in 1894. In the wild it grows on the ground or as an epiphyte, often on palm trunks, in swamps and wet hammocks, spreading by runners. It likes warm, humid summers and mild winters, and it tolerates more light and brief dry spells than the houseplant's reputation suggests.
Where it grows wild
Terrestrial or epiphytic in forested to fairly open habitats, often as an epiphyte, especially on the leaf bases of cabbage palms. It grows in swamps and wet hammocks, where it forms dense colonies from wiry runners. In south Florida it is a dominant groundcover of hardwood hammocks.
Mainly a lowland plant: the median recorded elevation is 650 m, and Florida populations are near sea level. The recorded maximum of 4,600 m is not credible for this species and is almost certainly a georeferencing or identification error.
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The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.