Bill's Botanical Forays

Becky and I took the tour of Luray Caverns today and it was cool seeing all of the stalactites and stalagmites. Some of them were rather spectacular. On the way out about 200 or 300 feet from the entrance, I spotted a fern growing. The only source of light at this point was an artificial light; it was too far away from the entrance and the fern was growing next to the light. I could only get about 4 or 5 feet away from it without attracting attention. I asked the guides about the fern and they gave me a rather generic answer about it being brought in by a spore from someone and they did not know the species name. Apparently no one has looked into identifying (at least as far as they knew.) I know that filmy ferns and certain mosses grow in caves, but this is fairly large fern and definitely not a filmy fern. Anyway, I think the picture is clear enough to allow identification of it, at least a ballpark identification. This may something fun to follow-up on.