Japanese Climbing Fern

Description:

Fern native to eastern Asia. Introduced in North America in the early 1900s. Now considered an invasive weed in the Southeast U.S. It grows in moist, swampy habitat, especially in disturbed areas. Still, pretty as a single plant ...

Notes:

Original posting: It looks like a fern, but it grows like a climbing vine. Very small-leaved and delicate. There's something unusual happening at the edges of the leaves ... second photo shows closer view.

From Wikipedia:

This fern produces a creeping stem from which grow very long leaves, the longest exceeding 98 feet. The leaves have rachises, which are vine-like and may climb other vegetation. What appear to be individual leaves sprouting from the twining rachis are actually leaflets, which are smaller segments from the main leaf. There are two types of leaflets, sterile and fertile. The sterile frond has lance-shaped segments. The fertile frond has more intricately divided, fringed segments. It is lined with sporangia on the edges. The plant reproduces via spores and spreads vegetatively via underground rhizomes.

An introduced species in North America, Japanese climbing fern was first recorded as being established in Georgia in 1903. In the southeastern United States this plant is now considered an invasive weed of economic and ecological significance. It grows in moist, swampy habitat, especially in disturbed areas. The presence of species such as the small-spike false nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica), royal fern (Osmunda spectabilis), resurrection fern (Pleopeltis polypodioides ssp. polypodioides), and toothed midsorus fern (Blechnum serrulatum) indicates the likely presence of this species. During controlled burns of wooded areas this fern may act as a "fuel ladder", which would allow the flames to climb into the canopy and destroy trees. After burns the fern can quickly grow back, so it cannot be controlled by fire.