Bulblet Fern

The bulblet fern, also called the bulblet bladderfern, is a low-growing rock fern of the family Cystopteridaceae native to eastern Canada, the midwestern and eastern United States, and two disjunct populations in the southwestern United States. Its creeping stems carry narrow, elongated, triangular fronds up to seventy-five centimeters long, and it is unusual among ferns in producing small bulblets along the underside of its fronds, which drop off and grow into new plants. It favors calcareous substrates such as limestone, commonly festooning the openings of limestone caves and vertical rock faces, and also grows in rocky scree.