The Curious Plantsman Looks at Broadleaf Ferns

Bird’s nest fern (Asplenium nidus). Photo: KENwikiPEI CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The subject of broadleaf ferns is at once obvious and a bit complicated. Quite simply, broadleaf ferns are those species that have a simple or undivided leaf, as opposed to the more common compound leaf, where each frond is divided multiple times. Though most of the ferns discussed here are classified as undivided, I make one exception by including the lovely Pteris cretica, the Cretan brake fern. The unifying principle here is the look of the leaves, and in that regard, all have distinctively broad leaves.

Bird’s nest fern (Asplenium nidus). Confused customers at the nursery I work at often ask “Is that a fern?” referring to the undivided frond structure of the lovely bird’s nest fern. A popular houseplant, bird’s nest fern features a bowl of angled, radiating leaves. Each glossy, apple-green frond has a distinctive, thin, black midrib. The lightly wavy fronds on this epiphytic fern are generally four to six inches wide and up to four feet long, although two feet long is more common when grown indoors. In their nativ...