Hypolepis repens
Common Name(s):
Previously known as:
- Dicksonia aculeata
- Hypolepis aculeata
- Hypolepis delicatula
- Phonetic Spelling
- hih-poh-LEP-iss reh-PENS
- Description
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Easy to grow fern in the bracken fern family. It has large leaves and rather long slender stems and creeping rhizomes and naturally occurs in well-drained moist, open woods with wet soil. The weight of the leaves are often supported by surrounding vegetation. Roots are formed the entire length of the plant's stem and are numerous at the leaf bases.
A hard freeze will kill it to the ground but it will regrow in the spring in zone 8 and higher.
It has the ability to form large colonies.
Its fronds are unusually large, while its long stems will creep along the ground.
VIDEO Created by NC State Extension's Homegrown series featuring Mark Weathington, Director of JC Raulston Arboretum.
- Profile Video:
- See this plant in the following landscape:
- Cultivars / Varieties:
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- Tags:
- Cultivars / Varieties:
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- Tags:
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Attributes:
- Genus:
- Hypolepis
- Species:
- repens
- Family:
- Dennstaedtiaceae
- Life Cycle:
- Perennial
- Country Or Region Of Origin:
- Tropical & Subtropical America, Florida
- Distribution:
- FL
- Play Value:
- Buffer
- Defines Paths
- Textural
- Particularly Resistant To (Insects/Diseases/Other Problems):
- Heavy shade, Deer
- Dimensions:
- Height: 3 ft. 0 in. - 8 ft. 0 in.
- Width: 3 ft. 0 in. - 5 ft. 0 in.
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Whole Plant Traits:
- Plant Type:
- Fern
- Ground Cover
- Habit/Form:
- Creeping
- Spreading
- Growth Rate:
- Rapid
- Maintenance:
- Low
- Texture:
- Medium
- Appendage:
- Prickles
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Cultural Conditions:
- Light:
- Dappled Sunlight (Shade through upper canopy all day)
- Deep shade (Less than 2 hours to no direct sunlight)
- Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)
- Soil Drainage:
- Good Drainage
- Moist
- Occasionally Wet
- Available Space To Plant:
- 3 feet-6 feet
- 6-feet-12 feet
- USDA Plant Hardiness Zone:
- 9b, 9a, 10b, 10a, 11b, 11a
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Fruit:
- Fruit Description:
- No fruits. This plants reproduces via spores.
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Flowers:
- Flower Description:
- No flowers.
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Leaves:
- Leaf Color:
- Green
- Leaf Type:
- Compound (Pinnately , Bipinnately, Palmately)
- Fronds
- Leaf Arrangement:
- Rosulate
- Leaf Shape:
- Elliptical
- Lanceolate
- Oblong
- Pinnatifid
- Hairs Present:
- No
- Leaf Length:
- 3-6 inches
- Leaf Width:
- < 1 inch
- Leaf Description:
- Large fronds; triangular with three or four divisions; blade has sparse hairs; stipe and rachis have small spines
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Stem:
- Stem Is Aromatic:
- No
- Stem Description:
- Has long, creeping, branching stems.
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Landscape:
- Landscape Location:
- Coastal
- Pond
- Slope/Bank
- Woodland
- Landscape Theme:
- Shade Garden
- Design Feature:
- Mass Planting
- Resistance To Challenges:
- Deer
- Heavy Shade
