Filicum: The Story of Yangmingshan's Ferns
Yangmingshan National Park is home to almost 200 species of ferns, including every single family of fern found in Taiwan. Due to a variety of highly changeable weather conditions, the richness and diversity of the area's ferns is quite high. In addition to commonly-seen low altitude ferns, the northeasterly monsoons caused what are known as "altitude migration" ferns to appear. Some of these ferns include henery's monachosorum, the Parathelypteris nipponica (Franch.et Sav.) Ching., and the Blechnum hancockii Hance, among others. The park enjoys large amounts of precipitation and, because of the volcanic terrain, the park is filled with many lakes, swamps, and streams. Such a humid environment provides a great habitat for Hymenophyllaceae ferns, which have scanty, membrane-like leaves. In addition, those who know what to look for will be rewarded with a priceless view of an extremely rare species of fern known as the Taiwanese Isoetes (Isoetes taiwanensis DeVol), which is only found in the Menghuan Pond Protected Area and is like no other fern in the entire world.