Hello all. I fell in love with Staghorn ferns when I seen them in the greenhouse at my collage. There was about 4 of them and my professor would not sell me one for nothing in the world cause they were hard to come by in my town. Now 2yrs later, Lowe's started carrying them. So I got a few, 2 small ones and one medium size. The larger of the 3 is clearly marked Platycerium Bifurcatum, the other ones just have a tag that says Staghorn fern platycerium. Now The fertile fronds on these look nothing like the bigger one I have so I was wondering are they of the same species. I have 2 videos on YouTube, just search for threatt1000 and they will pop up. Also, how old do you think my larger one is and when can I start looking for fertile fronds spores to collect. Another thing is I have old banana peels on the bottom along with ironite plus granular fertilizer. My plans are in moss and watered only when dried with distilled water. Since winter is coming I have them inside and I mist them often to keep humidity between 50-80%.

"Further reaserbh reveals that some are rare. Such are B. oneidense (threatened), Botrychium rugulosum (rare, of special concern)" Both of those are listed as threatened/endangered in some states towards the peripheries of their ranges, but are not threatened at a large scale. This is a common pattern in a lot of species; for instance Aquilegia canadensis is listed as endangered in Florida despite being very widespread and not in any particular danger through most of its range; calling the species rare because of the Florida listing would be absurd. "and there is very little information on B. dissectum var. obliquum..." Botrychium dissectum var. obliquum is both quite common throughout a lot of the northeastern US and, more importantly, isn't a valid taxon to start with. The varieties of dissectum represent polymorphism within a single panmictic species rather than real entities; Mike Barker & Warren Hauk were the authors on the study demonstrating this, which IIRC was published in American Fern Journal. ""There are a few characteristics that can aid in the admittedly difficult task of separating these species" The gist is... if it looks like that species, theres a good possibility that it IS rare and should be left alone!!!" Differentiation of species within the subgenera can be very difficult, but differentiation of the subgenera from each other is very easy. And nothing within the subgenera Sceptridium & Osmundopteris are actually rare. Patrick Alexander

One possible explanation....there are probably others! An increase in the size of a plant structure is usually an indication of an increase in ploidy. Almost all ferns are polyploids, having more than 2 sets of chromosomes per nucleus, such as triploid (N=3), tetraploid (N=4), pentaploid (N=5), etc. The number of chromosome sets can run into the hundreds in some plants. Those plants with an odd number of chromosome sets (N=3, N=5, N=7, etc.) are sterile and cannot reproduce by sexual processes. Sterile ferns do not produce sporangium and spores.

Thanks for the comments. Here are a few more pics! My sago palm is in a corner. I guess thats my plant hospital-no one can see it-but I can easily care for it. Windmill palm planted this year is looking good in shade. I think its on its 3rd frond . Next is a pic of my sabal domingensis, also newly planted this spring. Its pushed 1 and a half fronds this year. Not bad considering its in a pretty good amount of shade and still a pretty young palm. Also new for this year is my european fan palm. It has a pup on the side of it which is about to open its first frond. Sabal minor in its second year and growing very fast considering its a sabal minor! Its already pushed out a full frond and the second frond is unfolding. I wouldnt be surprised to get 3 fronds by the end of the summer. My sabal minors 'trunk'. It looks like it is actually growing above the ground, but maybe its planted too shallow. I think Ill have to add a little mulch in the fall since the roots are pretty exposed, but I think they have always been exposed. Do you think it should have some more soil on the top? NEW VOCAB WORD FOR ME! This is the 'hastula' of my Sabal domingensis. Apparently its where the petiole meets the base of the leaflets. On palmetto shaped fans its more spearlike. Im pretty sure sabal domingensis is a palmetto shaped leaf and heres a pic of the 'hastula' on it. And here is the 'hastula' on my sabal minor. So Im going to guess the longer the hastula is, the more coastapalmate (that palmetto shaped leaf) the frond is. I guess its a pretty good way to determine if a sabal minor is a minor or a palmetto at a young age. You learn a new thing every day! My new and first crape myrtle which is a crape myrtle zuni. They are starting to become pretty common in the area (maybe almost as common as southern magnolias). They are all in bloom now, but mine looks like it has about a week before the first blooms open. Heres my parlor palm and stromanthe in the shade doing well. They made it through 4 days of 100 degree weather in the shade with no leaf burn. I was very impressed. I have a peace lily in even more shade further to the back and it also had no leaf burn from the recent heat. Heres my tree fern which is growing at a pretty good speed. wsg89, Gardening can be very frustrating at times, and relaxing at others, but in the end its a great hobby. I think we have all lost a few plants. This year (from spring to now) I lost a bismarkia (I guess it didnt like the indoor atmosphere), musella (it just didnt like being shipped), one hibiscus, and definitely a few other plants also. Its disappointing to see plants die, but we learn from our mistakes and I definitely buy more than I lose! Greg, Thats definitely one of the reasons to by at a nursury. And you know the quality of fruit will be good on a grafted plant since it will fruit just like its mother. You just have to know which plants you have to buy grafted and which can be easily grown from seed. Laura, Thanks for the compliment. You have a beautiful yard also! I love those huge sabal palmettos and healthy pindo palms! Thanks for looking! Enjoy! -Alex