Polypodium vulgareL.

common polypody

WFO wfo-0001107395 Accepted WFO 2026-06 7 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–g

Polypodium vulgare, photographed by Алексей Ябс
fig. a Алексей Ябс, CC0 1.0 / 2022-06-05 / obs. 203505404
Polypodium vulgare, photographed by Алексей Ябс
fig. b Алексей Ябс, CC0 1.0 / obs. 203520386
Polypodium vulgare, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. c Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205218471
Polypodium vulgare, photographed by Алексей Ябс
fig. d Алексей Ябс, CC0 1.0 / obs. 203505784
Polypodium vulgare, photographed by aga_l_
fig. e aga_l_, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203806920
Polypodium vulgare, photographed by Stephen James McWilliam
fig. f Stephen James McWilliam, CC0 1.0 / obs. 201825049
Polypodium vulgare, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. g Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201475160

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 41 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.

  • Ctenopteris vulgaris (L.) Newman
  • Polypodium auritum Willd.
  • Polypodium bipinnatifidum Jenman
  • Polypodium boreale Salisb.
  • Polypodium commune DC.
  • Polypodium iranicum Mazooji
  • Polypodium laciniatum Lam.
  • Polypodium officinale Gueldenst.
  • Polypodium vulgare f. abbreviatum Wirtg.
  • Polypodium vulgare f. alatum (Christ) Semler
  • Polypodium vulgare f. attenuatum Gilbert
  • Polypodium vulgare f. auriculatum Wirtg.
  • Polypodium vulgare f. commune
  • Polypodium vulgare f. crenatum Wirtg.
  • Polypodium vulgare f. cuspidatum Wirtg.
  • Polypodium vulgare f. integrum Wirtg.
  • Polypodium vulgare f. oppositum Wirtg.
  • Polypodium vulgare f. platylobum (Christ) Semler
  • Polypodium vulgare f. sinuosum (Christ) Semler
  • Polypodium vulgare subsp. issaevii Askerov & A.E.Bobrov
  • Polypodium vulgare subsp. rotundatum (Milde) Askerov
  • Polypodium vulgare subsp. zuvandicum (Askerov & A.E.Bobrov) Askerov
  • Polypodium vulgare subvar. alatum
  • Polypodium vulgare subvar. sinuosum

and 17 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.