These bulbils are leaf derive structures and are produced in leaf axils or at various places on the leaf surface. Plants may chain along as successive bulbils take root, establish themselves and produce fronds and bulbils of their own. Proliferating bulbils can be found in Asplenium , Camptosorus , Diplazium , Polystichum , Ampelopteris , Huperzia and a number of other genera. Some species with long creeping rhizomes can extend over large areas and it may not be obvious that plants on one side of a population were physically derived from plants on another. The floating ferns Salvina and Azolla are striking examples of propagation by stem fragmentation.
Proliferation is possible from root stolons, tubers and similar structures.
This occurs in some species of Nephrolepis and Blechnum . More of a survival strategy than a means of propagation, some ferns of arid areas are able to dry out almost completely without actually dying. Crisp and brittle to touch, they resuscitate rapidly when rains come and continue their growth. A number of species of Cheilanthes behave this way. Commonly called resurrection ferns.