Polypodium virginianumL.

rock polypody

WFO wfo-0001109259 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h

Polypodium virginianum, photographed by Pierre Cartier
fig. a Pierre Cartier, CC0 1.0 / 2022-05-14 / obs. 197559100
Polypodium virginianum, photographed by Michael J. Papay
fig. b Michael J. Papay, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204111274
Polypodium virginianum, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. c Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 191980880
Polypodium virginianum, photographed by Ryan Sorrells
fig. d Ryan Sorrells, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 191158803
Polypodium virginianum, photographed by Erik Schiff
fig. e Erik Schiff, CC0 1.0 / obs. 192870633
Polypodium virginianum, photographed by Michael J. Papay
fig. f Michael J. Papay, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 188838395
Polypodium virginianum, photographed by Henry "Nick" Robertson
fig. g Henry "Nick" Robertson, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 193375409
Polypodium virginianum, photographed by Craig Martin
fig. h Craig Martin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 203969507

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Confused withby our own model

These are not lookalikes we guessed at. Each one is a species our identification model genuinely mistook for this plant, and how many times. The error rate is published.

Also published as 30 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Polypodium vinlandicum Á.Löve & D.Löve
  • Polypodium virginianum f. acuminatum Fernald
  • Polypodium virginianum f. alato-multifidum Fernald
  • Polypodium virginianum f. bipinnatifidum Fernald
  • Polypodium virginianum f. biserratum (Millsp.) M.Broun
  • Polypodium virginianum f. brachypteron Fernald
  • Polypodium virginianum f. cambricoides F.W.Gray
  • Polypodium virginianum f. chondroides Fernald
  • Polypodium virginianum f. churchiae Fernald
  • Polypodium virginianum f. deltoideum Fernald
  • Polypodium virginianum f. elongatum Fernald
  • Polypodium virginianum f. subsimplex Fernald
  • Polypodium virginianum f. virginianum
  • Polypodium vulgare f. biserratum Millsp.
  • Polypodium vulgare f. brachypteron Ridlon
  • Polypodium vulgare f. deltoideum Gilbert
  • Polypodium vulgare f. elongatum Jewell
  • Polypodium vulgare f. hastatum Gilbert
  • Polypodium vulgare f. marginale Gilbert
  • Polypodium vulgare f. projectum Fernald
  • Polypodium vulgare f. pygmaeum (Schur) M.Broun
  • Polypodium vulgare f. rotundatum Ridlon
  • Polypodium vulgare subsp. virginianum (L.) Hultén
  • Polypodium vulgare subsp. virginicum (L.) Fernald

and 6 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice, no toxicity claim and no native range, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.