Why the Boston Fern Is Named After a City It Can't Survive In

The Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata 'Bostoniensis') is a tropical sword fern native to Florida, the Caribbean, and Central America—it dies at the first frost. So how did it get a name evoking snowy New England?

A Happy Accident in a Shipment

In the late 1800s, a batch of sword ferns arrived at a Boston greenhouse. Among them was a mutant with unusually dense, gracefully arching fronds. The grower recognized its ornamental value, propagated it, and began selling it as the "Boston fern." The name stuck, and the cultivar spread worldwide as a parlor plant.

A Tropical Disguised as a Yankee

Like the Norfolk Island pine (which isn't a pine at all), the Boston fern is a tropical masquerading as a temperate staple. It thrives in warm, humid, shaded conditions—exactly the opposite of a Boston winter. Today, it remains one of the most popular houseplants and hanging-basket specimens, a living reminder of a 19th-century greenhouse discovery.