A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 Mystery Micro/Poly/Wort... Help please???

Don't have any text refernces, so I suppose I'm a bit disadvantaged here, but I happened to get this little fellow here last week, and I've turned positively nothing up on it. Was thinking it may have been a microsorium or polypodium, but it hasn't any stolon, so I'm thinking not. Has a bit in common with the specimins of those two species that I have, but it's not nearly the same.

Have spent many, many hours looking through the web for this little fellow, with every key word search I could conceive of, but to no avail. Have tried referencing numerous retail sites, as well as .edu sites.

This is a 4" pot, with goodly green fronds averaging 6" - 8" in length. Is generally simply pinnate, when it's actually pinnate at all, as every bloody frond is different. One key note is that the pinnae are alternated along the length of the stipe, which should help with the ID. It is a young piece, so there are no sori, I'm afraid. No help there. Would like to be able to positively identify it in order to arrange to care for it properly and grow it to be old enough to spore!

Any help GREATLY appreciated.

Best,

Darryl

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t195/DGuertin/1.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t195/DGuertin/2.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t195/DGuertin/3.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t195/DGuertin/4.jpg

It looks like a Boston Fern to me....

--Mark--

Wish I could nail it down for you,
for what it's worth, my first impression was polypodium.

Mark, I'm going to disagree, I think boston fern has 'denser' foilage. Also, I think boston ferns have a light green colour. I do think it's in the ferns catagory

Certainly not a sword fern of any type I'm familiar with. Not a Boston by any means, I know that at least; everything about it is different from the Nephrolepis species that I have. Will look back over some polypodium references on-line and see if I can't have a better stroke of luck this time.

Thanks much!

Have you had any luck yet? I haven't found anything that seemed a likely candidate yet.
Kirsten

As of now, I'm pretty much convinced it's Aglaonaria Coronans. Will see if I can find the link I found that showed a mature specimin that was a dead ringer, right down to the 'seaweed' look these small ones I have. I wasn't sure what it was, but I knew I liked it, so I bought four more yesterday...

Ah, glad to see that you found what it is ,
I was wondering about Aglaonaria robertsii \'Santa Rosa\' ,
so it sounds like we were on a similar track.

Just about right there, isn't it? I've seen exactly similar photos between four or five species of Aglaonaria / Aglamorpha all referred to as 'Santa Rosa Fern,' so I think that's a pretty good 'catch-all' for the ones that I have. I'm still working on getting clarification on what, if any, differences there are between Aglaomorpha, Aglaonaria, and Pseudodrynaria. Could simply be another of the silly taxonomic disagreements over just the names themselves...

One of the cactus family? I've seen cactus that looks like that.

Darryl,
I just joined so that I could ask you where on earth you found what looks exactly like an Aglaomorpha coronans (although possibly a meyeniana).

I have been looking for one and they are impossible to find. But maybe that's because I live in Montana.

But that's what you've got! They are incredibly showy when you mount them on a plaque like a staghorn is often mounted.

Melinda

Melinda,

Sorry for the delay. A local place received a shipment of "assorted tropical foliage," a term I utterly despise, back in January, when I first found this one. Watering was obviously a fairly foriegn concept to them, as most were nearly dead... I happened to noice this particulalry 'ferny' looking bit of 'foliage,' and snagged it immediately, along with an Asian Sword Fern (Nephrolepis Multiflora). Was thrilled with it when I found it, as it did't match anything I'd ever seen available around here, and I've collected about 60 species just locally. Went back and bought 5 others a few days later, just to ensure it didn't get away from me, so I now have 6, 5 of which have absolutely just taken off. 1 is still a little small, and not putting on as much growth, but it's alive at least, and doing well.

Can certainly understand why they would be hard to find in Montana, as it stays frozen there until, what, May? You might get 5 months outdoors growing this one but I have all of my ferns in the comfort of my home, where they seem to enjoy themselves (except the big C. Cooperii I have, they need a bit more light). Would be happy to swap one with you, if you're interested. I think the only ones I've seen on-line have been a bit spendy, when you could even find them in stock, but you could also put a call in to some of the vendors that have it listd as sold-out to see if you can get on a waiting list of some kind. I'm not mad keen on having to get rid of any of mine, but it would be for a good cause, and I know, unfortunately, I will have to do it sooner or later. I won't be able to keep all six when they start pushing 6' - 8' in diameter (will be hard enough finding space when they get to half that size)....