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Wed, Jan 30, 13 at 23:00
| There is a trio of Fan Palm Trees up the street from me. On one of the trees, there is some of our good old sandy Florida soil kind of embedded or packed into the bark. These little plants grows in that soil. They come alive when it rains. I pulled some out and put them in a glass of rainwater. They don't get much water from the stem, but if I turn them upside down and put the little frond into the water, they open right up. As you can see in the photos, underneath the leaves are little spores or some such. (I'm not very well educated when it comes to these things) I have had these in this glass for about 3 months now with no change. Can anyone tell me what they are? In my opinion, they are fascinating and I would love to know what they are so I can try to duplicate the proper conditions for new growth. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Here is a shot of the tree where they grow and what the whole colony looks like. By the way, this is on the North side of the tree only. |
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| And one more shot of the tree. It only grows down on the base of the tree, close to the ground but not on the ground itself - only on the tree itself. |
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| Pleopeltis polypodioides (resurrection fern) I believe. |
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- Posted by ravencajun 8 (My Page) on Thu, Jan 31, 13 at 3:47
| the spots on the under side are reproductive clusters, sori. |
Here is a link that might be useful: sorus
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| Thank you so much for the info saltcaledar. You were right on the money. What a fascinating little plant. I knew it was some sort of epiphyte but there are so many plants species! The nomenclature of Horticulture is "Greek to me" so I had no idea how to even begin to search for it. And thank you Ravencajun for the info and the link. I knew the spores were for propagation but that link was awesome! I have never heard this term before. Gardenweb has been a wealth of information for me thanks to people like the both of you. ~Nyphrodel~ |
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| You need to visit those trees right after a good rain fall. You've probably seen large outcroppings of this plant along the stems of old Live Oaks, but didn't know what you were looking at. These ferns thrive on Live Oaks; again, look for them after a rainfall. |
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- Posted by ravencajun 8 (My Page) on Thu, Jan 31, 13 at 17:31
| I have a big live oak in my back yard that has them all over it.They are interesting little plants. |
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| Thanks guys, you're probably right. I probably have seen them and had no idea what I was looking at or how cool it really was. I read that they estimate that this little fern could possibly live for up to 100 years without water and that it was taken aboard a space shuttle to watch it's resurrection in zero gravity. I certainly have a newfound respect for this amazing little plant and will now be on the lookout for it after rainstorms. |
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