Hi all. I have a lovely broad leaf plant that I have no idea what it is. The roots are seeming to come out of the ground. I am am garden novice so any help would be great. Is it normal or should I dig it back into the ground?

I think it's some kind of gorgeous fern and probably doing what it naturally wants to do. Where is it (state/province/ country/ continent..)

Anthony. To me it looks like a collection of leaves similar to what is on the ground around it. Could it be a nest of some kind? Does the accumulation brush aside?

It looks like a Bird's Nest fern to me. Birds Nest Fern (Asplenium antiquum)

I don't see a problem but you could throw a few more handfuls of leafy mulch around it if you want to. They like to have their roots in the loose leafy stuff, not in the soil so much.

There just air roots. No need to cover them. Looks like you live somewhere tropical ? So there collecting nite time dew.
Covering them will probably make them grow more !!!
😎😎😎

I agree, looks like some type of Asplenium (Birds Nest Fern or Hart's Tongue Fern) ... a few for comparison:

The two look very much alike.

Anthony123 said:

plantladylin said:

• Bird's Nest Fern (Asplenium nidus)
• Uploaded by jmorth

Here is the Wiki page. The Bird's Nest fern can grow as an epiphyte or as a terrestrial. There is a photo showing several of the ferns growing as epiphytes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

I agree with the ID. Eventually, the fern will grow a trunk and have roots on the soil surface. Its what they do.

The one Elaine linked to looks to be a match:


More images can be viewed here and can be enlarged for comparison: http://plantexplorer.longwoodg...

At the Wikipedia page for A. antiquum, when you enlarge the photo, it shows the name as A. nidus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

This site says A. nidus is also known as A. antiquum: http://plantlust.com/plants/62... but according to the Catalogue of Life they are two different species.