Ferns. Wild ferns of the Canary Islands. Flowers of the Canary Islands.

Ferns

Woodwardia radicans

    The Canary Islands are home to a wide variety of wild ferns, with around 65 species belonging to 31 different genera. These prehistoric plants find their ideal habitat in the archipelago’s humid forests, particularly in the laurel forest and fayal-heathland areas of the islands of Tenerife, La Palma and La Gomera, although their geographical distribution is wider, ranging from almost sea level up to an altitude of 2,000 metres.
    Tenerife is the island with the greatest number of ferns, followed by La Palma, La Gomera, Gran Canaria, El Hierro, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, owing to its size and its morphological and climatic characteristics.
    Some species are very common and widely recognised by the people of the Canary Islands, such as the eagle fern (Pteridum aquilinum), the Christmas fern (Polypodium macaronesicum), the Canary Island davallia (Davallia canariensis) and the golden spleenwort (Asplenium aureum), whilst others are extremely rare, such as the small Asplenium septentrionale, which is found on the mountain peaks of Tenerife and La Palma.
    Its wide ecological and morphological variability is illustrated by the presence of different species of ferns, such as the tiny snake’s tongue (Ophioglossum polyphyllum), in sandy coastal areas very close to the sea, the woolly fern (Cosentinia vellea), whose fronds are covered in a whitish down to protect them from the dry environment of the cardonal-tabaibal, the so-called ‘candle grass’ (Asplenium hemionitis), which develops its unusual triangular fronds on the forest floor, the delicate maidenhair fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris), which prefers very damp places such as fountains and springs; the kidney-leaved maidenhair fern (Adiantum reniforme), which, with its small, rounded leaves, grows in crevices and on walls in semi-humid areas; and the giant Woodwardia (Woodwardia radicans), with fronds up to 3 m long, which inhabits the densest areas of the laurel forest. And in ruderalised areas, there are introduced species that have become naturalised on the islands, such as the cosmopolitan ‘crystal fern’ (Christella dentata), the ‘parlour fern’ (Nephrolepis exaltata), or the ‘leather fern’ (Cyrtomium falcatum).