Java Fern

Java Fern (Leptochilus pteropus) is an aquatic plant in the family Polypodiaceae. It is native to Southeast Asia. Java fern is near-indestructible, and the one reliable way to kill it is to plant it. The rhizome must stay above the substrate, tied or glued to wood or rock. Buried, it rots — and a Java fern pushed into gravel is the single most common way people lose a plant that otherwise tolerates low light, no CO2, and almost any water. It comes from Southeast Asia, growing attached to riparian roots and rocks, and reaches around 35 cm at 20 to 28 °C (68–82 °F). It propagates by adventitious plantlets that form on older leaves and drop off ready-rooted. Its name has changed: the accepted binomial is now Leptochilus pteropus, with Microsorum pteropus as a synonym still used throughout the trade.