|
Pyrrosia lingua (Tongue Fern) - The 12-to-18-inch tall epiphytic (growing on trees) or lithophytic (growing on rocks) plant with 18 inch long by 2 inch wide thick, olive green blades-like fronds that rise singly from the slender surface creeping. The fronds have a gently undulating margin and a slight twist to the entire blade, exposing for view the undersides that are covered in many small (1mm) round sori with accompanying stellate hairs and scales that make for an interesting felty cinnamon to tan colored surface.
Plant in morning, late afternoon sun or bright shade and water occasionally to regularly. Cold hardy to 0 degrees (or less) and useful down to USDA Zone 6. The leaves have been compared to having a texture and look or a cow's tongue and the twisting and undulations of the blades provide a great contrast between the green upper and reddish tan undersides. Great in containers or planted in the ground as an interesting and attractive evergreen solid groundcover. It is at its does best in a very well-drained soil or steep slope (rhizomes can stick to a vertical surface) in bright indirect light and fertilized throughout the warm months with a fertilizer like fish emulsion. Avoid overwatering and use a well-drained orchid bark amended soil in containers.
Pyrrosia lingua is native to Japan, China, Taiwan, India, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and Vietnam, where it grown on moderately dry rocks or on trees at low to mid elevations (300 to 6,200 feet) in mountainous areas. The name for the genus comes from the Greek word 'pyrros' meaning "flame-colored" or "red" in reference to the reddish tint of the stellate hairs of some Pyrrosia species, namely the type plant Pyrrosia chinensis (P. stigmosa). The specific epithet fittingly means tongue-like. We have grown this plant since 2014 after being give stock on it years earlier by plantsman John Bleck, who thinned out his own plantings occasionally from a planting growing very well in his Goleta, California garden. We also grew the frilly selection of this species called Pyrrosia lingua 'Cristata'.
The information displayed on this page about Pyrrosia lingua is based on the research we have conducted about it in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.
|
