Help us maintain this website and keep it free and open for our community of scientists, students, and conservation managers, who depend on it to obtain the most up to date information. Help us save species and restore native ecosystems!

Close

Please scroll to the bottom for more images.
Nephrolepis exaltata (L.) Schott
Sword fern, Wild Boston fern

Nephrolepis exaltata
Copyright by: George D. Gann
In habitat, Everglades National Park, Florida

Family: Nephrolepidaceae

Group: Pteridophyte

Substrate: Terrestrial

Habit: Herb

Perennation: Perennial

Native Range: Southern United States, the West Indies, Mexico and Central America; perhaps escaped from cultivated in South America.

Map of select IRC data for peninsular Florida

IRC SOUTH FLORIDA Status: Secure

SOUTH FLORIDA Occurrence: Present

SOUTH FLORIDA Native Status: Native

SOUTH FLORIDA Cultivated Status: Cultivated

Comments: Visit our Natives For Your Neighborhood website for more information and images. Reported by John Kunkel Small in 1918 for Royal Palm Hammock.

Other data on Nephrolepis exaltata available from :

Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants
Nephrolepis exaltata has been found in the following 129 conservation areas :
Occurrence Native Status
A.D. Doug Barnes Park Present Native
Andrew Dodge Memorial Pineland Present Native
Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge Present Native
Big and Little George Hammocks Present Native
Big Cypress National Preserve Present Native
Bill Sadowski Park Present Native
Black Creek Forest Present Native
Black Point Park and Marina Present Native
Blowing Rocks Preserve Present Native
Bonair Beach Parcel, Martin County Present Native
Boystown Pineland Present Native
Caloosahatchee Creeks Preserve Assumed to be Present Native
Caloosahatchee Regional Park Present Native
Camp Owaissa Bauer Present Native
Camp Owaissa Bauer Addition Possibly Extirpated Possibly Extirpated
Castellow Hammock parcel 28 Present Native
Castellow Hammock parcel 31 Present Native
Castellow Hammock Park Present Native
Chernoff Hammock Possibly Extirpated Native
Coconut Creek Maple Swamp Natural Area Present Native
Collier-Seminole State Park Present Native
Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW) Present Native
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Present Native
Crandon Park Present Native
Crystal Lake Sand Pine Scrub Natural Area Present Native
Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammocks Botanical State Park Present Native
Deering Estate at Cutler Present Native
Delray Oaks Natural Area Present Native
Dolphin Center and Dolphin Center Addition Present Native
Dupuis Reserve Present Native
Enchanted Forest Park Present Native
Estero Bay Preserve State Park Present Native
Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area Present Native
Everglades National Park Present Native
Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park Present Native
Fern Forest Nature Center Present Native
Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area Present Native
Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge Present Native
Fred C. Babcock-Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area Present Native
Frenchman's Forest Natural Area Present Native
Frog Pond/L-31 N Transition Lands Doubtfully Present
Fuchs Hammock Preserve Present Native
Gold Coast Railroad Museum Present Native
Gomez Present Native
Grassy Waters Preserve Present Native
Greynolds Park Present Native
Halpatiokee Regional Park Present Native
Harden Hammock Present Native
Hattie Bauer Hammock Present Native
High Ridge Scrub Natural Area Present Native
Hillsboro Pineland Natural Area Present Native
Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge Present Native
Hobe Sound Sandhill Present Native
Holiday Hammock Present Native
Hugh Taylor Birch State Park Present Native
Ingram Pineland Present Native
Ives Estate Park Present Native
J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge Present Native
J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area Present Native
John D. MacArthur Beach State Park Present Native
Jonathan Dickinson State Park Present Native
Juno Dunes Natural Area Present Native
Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Area Present Native
Kendalwood Present Native
Kiplinger Present Native
Koreshan State Historic Site Present Native
LaBelle Nature Park Present Native
Larry and Penny Thompson Park Present Native
Long Key Natural Area & Nature Center Present Native
Loveland Hammock Present Native
Loxahatchee River Natural Area Present Native
Loxahatchee River-Lake Worth Creek Aquatic Preserve Present Native
Loxahatchee Slough Natural Area Present Native
Lucille Hammock Present Native
Luis Martinez United States Army Reserve Station, Richmond Pine Rocklands Present Native
Matheson Hammock Park Present Native
Meissner Hammock Present Native
National Key Deer Refuge Possibly Extirpated Possibly Extirpated
Navy Wells Pineland 23 Present Native
Navy Wells Pineland Preserve Present Native
Nixon Smiley Pineland Preserve Present Native
Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest, Okaloacoochee Slough Wildlife Management Area Present Native
Okaloacoochee Slough Wildlife Management Area - FWC, Okaloacoochee Slough Wildlife Management Area Present Native
Palm Drive Pineland Present Native
Pal-Mar Present Native
Peck Lake Park Present Native
Picayune Strand State Forest Present Native
Pine Island Ridge Natural Area Present Native
Pine Jog Environmental Sciences Center Present Native
Pond Apple Slough Natural Area Present Native
Porter-Russell Pineland Present Native
Prairie Pines Preserve Present Native
Quail Roost Pineland Present Native
R. Hardy Matheson Preserve Present Native
Railhead Scrub Preserve Present Native
Riverbend Park Present Native
Rockdale Pineland Present Native
Rocky Point Hammock Present Native
Ron Ehmann Park Present Native
Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Present Native
Rosemary Scrub Natural Area Present Native
Royal Palm Beach Pines Natural Area Present Native
Savannas Preserve State Park Present Native
Seabranch Preserve State Park Present Native
Seacrest Scrub Natural Area Present Native
Secret Woods Nature Center Present Native
Sewell Park Present Native
Silver Palm Groves Present Native
Silver Palm Hammock Present Native
Simpson Park Present Native
Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve Present Native
South Dade Wetlands Present Native
Southern Glades Present Native
Sunny Palms Pineland Present Native
Tall Cypress Natural Area Present Native
Tamiami Pineland Complex Addition Present Native
Tradewinds Park & Stables Present Native
Tree Island Park Present Native
Tree Tops Park Present Native
Trinity Pineland Present Native
Tropical Park Present Native
Twin Rivers Present Native
Wahoo Hammocks, Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area Present Native
Warbler Wetland Natural Area Present Native
West Biscayne Pineland Present Native
Whispering Pines Hammock Preserve Present Native
Wild Turkey Strand Preserve Present Native
Yellow Fever Creek Preserve Present Native
Zoo Miami Present Native

Nephrolepis exaltata has been found in the following 11 counties :
Occurrence Native Status
Broward County Native
Charlotte County Native
Collier County Native
Glades County Native
Hendry County Native
Lee County Native
Martin County Native
Miami-Dade County Native
Monroe County (Keys) Native
Monroe County (Mainland) Native
Palm Beach County Native

Nephrolepis exaltata has been found in the following 16 habitats :
Bayhead
Coastal Berm
Dome Swamp
Floodplain Swamp
Freshwater Tidal Swamp
Maritime Hammock
Marl Prairie
Mesic Flatwoods
Mesic Hammock
Pine Rockland
Prairie Hammock
Rockland Hammock
Shell Mound
Slough
Strand Swamp
Wet Flatwoods

All Images:

Nephrolepis exaltata
Copyright by: George D. Gann
In habitat, Everglades National Park, Florida
Nephrolepis exaltata
Copyright by: Keith A. Bradley
Nephrolepis exaltata
Copyright by: George D. Gann
Nephrolepis exaltata
Copyright by: George D. Gann
Nephrolepis exaltata
Copyright by: George D. Gann
Nephrolepis exaltata
Copyright by: Susan Trammell