Pyrrosia adnascens aka Pyrrosia Adnascens

Pyrrosia adnascens is a small fern. It stays green all year. It belongs to the Polypodiaceae family. Kew gives its native range as Nepal to southern China and Indo-China. This range takes in the central Nansei Islands too. It also includes Taiwan and the Philippines. Useful Tropical Plants gives a wider range across Asia and Pacific islands. It lists India, Japan, and Thailand. It also lists Malaysia, Indonesia, and Polynesia. Thus, the two sources differ on the range's limits. The RHS says it is not native to Britain or Ireland.

This fern grows about 0.16–0.39 feet [0.05–0.12 metres] tall. The database gives a rounded height too: 0.33 feet [0.10 metres]. These figures show a small plant. They do not confirm its size in a garden. A long rhizome, a type of stem, creeps over the surface. Its leaves stay green all year. The account gives no more facts about leaves or stems. It gives no measured spread or growth rate either. Its low height and creeping form are its main recorded traits.

Kew calls this fern an epiphyte or lithophyte. These terms mean it grows on trees or rock. Records from southern China place it on trunks and rock surfaces. There, it grows at 328–4,265 feet [100–1,300 metres] above sea level. Kew links it to a wet tropical climate. This tells us where it grows in the wild. It does not give a tested way to care for it. The sources give no advice on how to grow it. They give no hardiness rating. They do not set out its light, water, soil, or frost needs. Useful Tropical Plants lists it as a wild plant. These accounts give no facts on garden use, pests, or disease.

People gather this wild fern for local use as medicine. Records list its use to treat dysentery and inflammation. They also list the whole plant in traditional care for scrofula. These uses do not prove that the treatments work. Useful Tropical Plants lists no known food or other uses. It reports no cases of harm from toxins in this species. This lack of reports does not mean it is safe to eat. The page warns of harmful compounds in some ferns. Those broad warnings do not prove this species has such compounds. The evidence does not support calling it safe to eat. Nor does it support a firm rating of how toxic it is.