Mar 072014
Resurrection fern (Polypodium polypodioides) is among my most favorite ferns. It spends much of the year looking like dried-up leaves clinging to a tree branch. After rainfall, it magically transforms itself into a vibrant green, luxurious fern layer festooning tree limbs. Resurrection fern is an epiphyte, gaining all the nutrients it needs from what is in the air and what might collect on the outer surface of the tree bark. It does not harm its host in any way. This photograph was taken among the pecan trees, about halfway down Piney Woods Church Road. I dedicate this image to Fern’s Market in Serenbe, which has provided me with a marvelous haven for reading and hanging out since it first opened in 2012.
