The helecho lechuga or 'lettuce fern' (Microsorum polycarpon (Cavanilles) Tardieu) is an Old World tropical fern ranging from Africa and Madagascar through Asia to Papua New Guinea, Australia, and the Polynesian Islands. It is a coarse fern with bright, light green, leathery leaves. The plants form large colonies often scrambling over rocks and grow anywhere from shade to full sun.

Having such a wide range, this fern has numerous fantastic varieties from plain slender fronds, 'New Guinea', to undulating, 'Lobatum', to branching crested fronds, 'Cristatum'. The photographed plant is 'Grandiceps'.

Known in Puerto Rico as the 'lettuce fern', it apparently has no common name in most English-speaking countries. In the subtropics and tropics, the fern is used in landscapes as a dense ground cover that excludes most weeds. Even if one does not live in the tropics, it is an easy fern for pot culture provided the medium is organic and open.

(Compiled from: W3TROPICOS, Jim Solomon, Missouri Botanical Garden and Encyclopedia of Ferns, David L. Jones, Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 1987)