Polypodium vulgare, Common Polypody, is a distinctive hardy fern with attractive pinnatifid fronds with leathery leaflets arranged in an alternating arrangement on either side of the central stem. It has a creeping rootstock and slowly forms a large clump or mat with fresh fronds thrown up from the horizontal rhizomes. If a low ferny ground-covering mat is required, Polyopodium vulgare is ideal and looks very effective in combination with Asplenium scolopendrium, the Harts Tongue Fern. Its manner of growth also makes it an ideal fern to introduce as an epiphyte in the branches and on the trunks of trees or as a lithophyte in the nooks and crannies of stonewalls. In late summer and early autumn, it produces spores on the undersides of the leaflets in large sori that are exceptionally colourful and are usually bright yellow or orange.

Although its common name is Common Polypody, Polypodium vulgare is an uncommonly good plant and one whose potential for subtle overgrown effects is often overlooked by designers...

...but not by you, of course...