How about Kangaroo Paw Fern (Microsorum diversifolium). Just guessing from online photos.

Marcia

Hi

Will check that out !! that is the strangest family . have several members of the family and see no way they are related but can't get a handle on the naming of non flowering plants .Have M crocodyllus and Thailandicum about all i can see they have in common is that they are ferns

Even if it's wrond better than "Assorted ferns" ?? lol Thanks gary

I agree - I was just about to post the same as Marcia when she got there first! It looks like Kangaroo Paw Fern.

Yeah, the naming is funny, isn't it? Rabbit's Foot is in the same family, too.

Carol in Jacksonville

Hi

Think that's it!! Down to around 7 closely related species but diversifolium is good enough lol I bought it on impulse as it was only 2 bucks and you can NEVER have too many ferns ?? lol Thanks gary

Gary, ferns are great - especially when you have a lot of shade. Will this guy get mounted into a tree, or stay in a pot? I have some of my potted ferns in hanging baskets, hanging in the trees. And I love a $2 plant as much as a new pair of shoes!

Carol

That brings up a great aspect of your FL gardening-the way so many plants down there have other plants growing on them! I love to see that. Like the resurrection and other ferns growing between the boots on Sabal palms, or the Hoyas and Philodendrons climbing up the trunk of a pine tree...I love to see that. Also, saw some astonishingly large staghorn fern balls hanging from trees in Fort Myers.

+oM

Carol

going to wait awhile until I decide where to put it. Looks like it could turn into a monster? lol They use it as a ground cover at Disney world . I note right away that the offsets are not grasping as with Rabbits,Bears and Deer foot ferns so assume it would be easy to remove if it gets out of hand I repurposed a section of my garden for "Tree ferns" and i think it will go there as soon as I get some experience with it . A couple of years ago I bought an Elephant fern Angiopteris evecta tiny little thing in a 3 inch pot but reading about it find that fronds can get 15/20 feet long!! I'm told that it's very difficult to keep so will probably die before it eats the house ?? lol

My Microsorum thailandicum has been struggling though it doesn't die but has lost that fantastic glittery blue color I'm growing in sphag in dense shade . Have been told it's an obligate limestone lithophyte which would be a whole new ballgame for me though the nursery where I got it produces them as semi' epis.

I recently got a price list of some of the fantastic metallic epis but fear they are cool growers .Not two bucks by the way !!! lol

Wiscon have you ever been to the rainforests of Central S. Amer.?? Epiphyte heaven lol. I was blown away by the Tree fern forests 30/40 feet high with dozens of other species growing on around and through them . I kept expecting to see a dinosaur to poke his head out somewhere lol gary

No Gary, never have been. I spent far too much of my life thinking I don't care about "southern" scenes. I was a fool to think so and now do indeed have that as a goal-to at least get to Costa Rica or some equivalent area. But heck, even the stuff in S. Florida I find impressive.

+oM

Costa Rica is the best choice particularly if interested in plants .

has 12 climate zones from permanent frost to permanent torrid from 10 to 300 inches of rain per year so an incredible diversity in a very small areas

Used to rent a shack on an abandon coffee plantation at mid altitude on Pacific side for 150 a month but has now been absorbed into the park system Almost bought a small farm there but wife hates the "jungle" particularly the creepie crawlies lol you could spend two lifetimes there and never see half of it !! Much has changed over the years particularly prices but ground and air trans is good ,people are friendly and we always felt safe .

If interested in nature definitely the place to go!! gary

Thanks bud. My older son-he of the successful software company-has taken two trips to CR already. Me-dad-none yet. But I gather from his accounts that it is the place to see. BTW, I don't remember which side he was on but the locals-leftover US hippies he tells me-all leave when the rainy season starts. Whatever area that is, life becomes darn-near impossible when that deluge hits. Of course, that's why things are so insanely green!

+oM

gary, i have one just like yours.

it is kangaroo paw (common name) but botanically it's

Phymatosoruc pustulatus subs pustulatus. and it does grow fairly quickly. mine tripled indoors in one year.

Hi

Ran accross that genus while researching and they listed Microsrum diversifolium as a synonym.as well as 25 other related species!! Ferns are almost as bad as orchids with the name changes !!lol I'm going to call it a clean shaven polypodium since it lacks hair but it does have 4 oclock shadow lol I kind of like "Hounds tongue" or" Devils fingers " as a common name since "Kangaroo paw" is already taken by a flowering plant

I'll leave the splitting of hairs to the botanists ?? Thanks for the info gary