The golden polypody (Phlebodium aureum (L.) J. Smith) is an epiphytic fern native to Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America. In the wild, the fern is found growing on live oaks (Quercus virginiana), palmettos (Sabal palmetto), and occasionally on moist, but well-drained soils. A beautiful and easy-to-grow fern, there are nine recognized cultivars of golden polypody in the horticultural trade.

Golden polypody is a member of the Polypodiaceae, the many-footed fern family. Polypodies grow by a creeping horizontal rhizome—the 'foot'. The leaves arise alternately along the rhizome. Linnaeus originally named the fern Polypodium aureum in 1753. The current generic name first came from Robert Brown (Brownian motion fame) in 1838, but was not applied as a generic name until made official by John Smith in 1841. Phlebodium is built from the Greek phlebodes, "full of veins", a reference to the internal structure of the rhizome; aureum refers to the golden brown scales that cover the outside.

In 2002, golden polypody provided proof that lectins were widespread in the plant kingdom; it was the first time a member of this class of chemicals was discovered in the Filicopsida, the ferns. Lectins are proteins that bind to saccharides; each lectin is specific to one or more types of sugar.

The first lectin, ricin from the castor bean, was discovered in 1888 by H. Stillmark. It binds to sugar molecules on the surface of red blood cells causing the cells to agglutinate or clot—an undesirable trait when the blood is still in the veins and arteries. Lectins from the bean family are well-known, several with similar damaging effects on human physiology. Lectins are found not only in plants, but in animals. Certainly, not all lectins are toxic and they are excellent 'tools' in the laboratory.

For all the lectins being discovered and uses found for diagnostic research, no one yet knows what these proteins do for the plants that manufacture them and little is understood how they function in animals.

(Compiled from: Encyclopedia of Ferns, David L. Jones, Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 1987; "Introduction to Lectin", Jun Hirabayashi, Teikyo University, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Thorkild's Lectin Page; "Lectins – determination of the sugar specificity of Jacalin by a sugar-lectin binding assay (SLBA)", Anonymous, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology; "Purification, Characterization, Molecular Cloning and Expression of Novel Members of Jacalin-related Lectins from Rhizomes of the True Fern Phlebodium aureum (L) J. Smith (Polypodiaceae)" H. Tateno, HC Winter, J Petryniak, and IJ Goldstein, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, March 28, 2003)