it looks like pteris to me.
so i looked thru the images.
and it's not the more common pteris cretan which has much longer leaves.
i think it is pteris ensiformis (silver lace fern).
very nice!

petrushka,
I was also thinking it looked like a Pteris (it reminded me of a 'Rowerii' fern a little bit) but couldn't find anything further.

It does indeed look to be Pteris ensiformis, thank you so much!

Not a bad looking plant for $6 and it's sure not something I've seen before in town.

Planto

i killed a few in my time ;). never ever let it dry out - it'll just go crisp and never recover. it's best for terrariums - needs very hi humidity and warmth.
i'd put it on a wick immediately, if i got it now.
you can just push in a bit of acrylic yarn into the bottom of the pot and an 1-2" into the soil and drop the other end into container with water. it almost likes it on wet side, which is very hard to get right without rotting it....
or you can drop the yarn end right into those pebbles , it'll suck up enough to prevent the drying up. and you'll see the water-level drop easily - to refill. just as is in current soil, no repot. when it is growing large in a small pot it'll be using a fair amt of water (harder to drown then in a larger pot).

Hmm, sounds a little scary lol. I remember my Mother owning a 'Rowerri' fern and it seemed to be happy just sitting on a humdity tray. She did manage to kill it by allowing it to dry out too many times though lol. I think that poor fern had the will to survive, but Mom would forget about it.

I have mine double potted and sitting on a large humidity tray, I will see how that works. I will wick if the need arises. I'll do my best with keeping it's water needs high enough without rotting. *crossing fingers*

Planto

petrushka,
Okay, my concern for the fern overcame my desire to have it, so I returned it and got a Phlebodium aureum today. What are your thoughts on this fern? I'm looking for something that isn't difficult, so I'm hoping this one will do fine for me.

Planto

wow! i'm sorry! i didn't mean to scare you. with water wick it should be relatively easy...
phleb is much easier ..compared. it's tropical so it slows down in winter if you let your temps drop below 65F. it'll drop the fronds if it dries completely. but usually it'll regrow - though slowly. mine took off when i put it outside in open shade on north balcony - no sun. it loves 80F and high humidity. but basically at 72-75F it'll grow OK. i feed it Av ferts - acidic 7-7-7.
it's an epiphyte - so normally people grow it in open wire baskets lined with coir fiber. if you can't do that - plant it very shallow in smth peaty humusy with perlite. i lay shipping styro-pellets in the bottom half of wide mums pot and then it grows feet over the sides in time. i also use coir fibre to line a plastic mum pot, sides and bottom, to allow more air to the roots.
with age it will develop spores and drop them all over. there is only one way to control this: let it go dormant (drier and lower temps) - and drop most fronds, then in spring start watering more and it'll regrow. and this will also keep it small.
my monsters were just totally out of control after 2 succesive winters in warmth, but then finally i brutally checked them...
is yours small? if so - sev 3-4 years you have nothing to worry about . it grows rather slowly.
i posted pics of mine here, will go find the post.
don't be scared! but again, i keep mine on water-wicks since i have a horrendous amt of plants and go away like .... sporadically and sudden ;).

post a pic of yours?

Here is a link that might be useful: an the very end you can see my posts

petrushka,
No, no! I appreciate your honesty! I am not one to jump through hoops to keep a plant and much appreciate the undemanding ones. It sounded a bit more demanding than I really wanted. I respect your opinion and feel that if something's hard for you to grow, it's not the plant for me, haha.

I know ferns aren't necessarily on the list of easy plants, but I don't mind owning one if it'll be okay with what little I can provide.

It doesn't drop below 72 in our apartment and will be indoors year-round (max temperature is 80). I see that the mix it's currently in is rather peaty, and I do see perlite. Sounds like a good mix (with respects to what you've recommended). The pot it's in is about as wide as it is deep.

Below is a blurry photo, sorry about that. It doesn't strike me as all that large, but what do I know. :P

Planto

yours looks much prettier then mine.
but then.. i did not buy them, they just grew in my orchid pots from spores!
i got formosa last year - it's been chugging along nicely, was about your size, doubled up ...grew nice little feet.
i put long fiber sphag on the surface as mulch - to retain moisture better and also i visually can spot better when my water runs out in the cache pot. it likes it. but i put it in a larger pot right away and on a wick - it was in a very small pot, which is very dangerous for me!
check out african violet forums for water-wicking. it's really great for moisture loving plants like ferns, aralias, anthuriums, peace lilies,etc...i had a hard time with them before i started doing it.

So, where did the volunteers come from? Lol.

I do grow PLs successfully, but it sounds like the watering for Ferns is a little different. I'll see how it survives with how I treat my other plants and I'll look into water wicking if it begins to show signs of struggling. I also grow AVs, but they're not water wicked.

Planto