Japanese Climbing Fern

Japanese climbing fern, Lygodium japonicum, is a fern of the family Lygodiaceae native to eastern Asia, unusual among ferns for its vining growth habit, in which fronds of indeterminate length climb and twine over shrubs, trees and fences. Introduced to the southeastern United States as an ornamental in the nineteenth century, it has since spread aggressively as an invasive species across the region, smothering native vegetation and, because its dense mats can carry fire into tree canopies, posing an increased wildfire risk where it has become established.