Botanical name:

Asplenium flabellifolium

Common name(s):

Necklace fern, walking fern, butterfly fern

About:

This fern is found throughout New Zealand, thriving in rocky areas of forests and scrub from sea level to 600m. Commonly known as the necklace fern, it features delicate, narrow fronds adorned with small, fan-shaped leaflets along each side of the stem. The fronds, reaching up to 50cm in length, have a prostrate growth habit and can root at their tips, giving rise to new plants—hence its other common name, the walking fern. It can be grown indoors in a hanging basket or pot, while outdoors, it flourishes in a shady location with rich, well-draining soil.

Natural habitat:

Coastal to subalpine. Usually in dry rocky ground, on lava and scoria fields, in grassy areas, within scrub, or along river banks in moderately open alluvial forest. Never found in deep shade or dense forest.

Growing environment:

Frost, Sun, Coastal & Free draining tolerant.

Endemic distribution:

New Zealand’s North and South Islands, mostly easterly from the Bay of Islands. Also present in Australia.

Height: 50cm

Flowering: N/A Spore producing

Fruiting: N/A

Uses:

Riparian plantings, Forests, Pioneer Plantings & Container friendly

How to grow:

Easily grown. An excellent pot and hanging basket fern. Can be slow establish. Prefers semi-shade, and should be planted in a fertile, free draining soil, or among rocks.