PlantFiles: Kangaroo Fern
Microsorum pustulatum

I mostly water it once a week. Under drifting shade in a pot. I bring it into the garage in winter. Lizards love to hide in it; when I water it they come scrambling out. Zone 9a, NE Florida

The roots of my fern have a delicious almost tarragon fragrance.

Is epiphytic, glossy, bright green fronds, can vary in shape and size. Easy to grow, well-drained potting mix. best use 1 part course sand/ 1 part pine bark/ 1 part peat moss, and charcoal/ can use bone meal 1 tbs to 3 parts mix. do not let dry completely. Restrict watering somewhat in winter, keep at 50-60F. rhizones best divided Feb-march.

I've had one of these living outside for about 18 months now. Our temps dip down into the 20's & sometimes the teens but do not remain there for more than several hours. This plant did very well.

This spring I divided it into 4 parts - one going back into the hanging basket which gets a good dose of afternoon sun. It has already outgrown the basket. I'm hoping I won't have to divide it again until the spring.

The other sections were planted into a chunk of hollow oak along with some bromeliads in an area that doesn't get as much sun & they have not done as well.

This fern is a climber of the wetter forests in South-Eastern Australia, often climbing on the stems of Soft Tree Ferns, Dicksonia antarctica. It's name of Kangaroo Fern, refers to the shape of the fronds. On a young plant, the fronds are unbranched, but eventually develop multiple broad pinnae. There is an intermediate stage, where some of the fronds have a single branch pinna on one side only. This frond shape then resembles a kangaroo's footprint, which has one long toe and one slighly shorter toe beside it. I pegged a piece of Kangaroo Fern, to the stem of my Soft Tree Fern some years ago, and it has thrived there ever since, now wrapping itself several times round the tree fern stem, and regularly producing spores, although no new plants have arisen. I water the tree fern stem in summer to keep it moist.