Ferns: Fern? ID requested.

My Venus flytrap acquired the above companion over the summer.
Spore wind-sown?----Revived from long dormancy?
Appeared after VFT repotted in sphagnum moss and set outside in full sun.
Pot is 4"; height of plant about 9".
Foliage variable, from one to five lobes.
My guess, going by fiddleheads and possible rhizome activity...fern?
ID requested.

 

I have what looks like this, and what I'm coming up with for a name is Polypodium pseudoaureum ‘Blue Hare’s Foot Fern’. That looks like a common name put in quotes - I don't know what the proper name is here. It gets fuzzy rhizomes that creep across the soil. If you read up on how to get a fern growing from spores, it seems to be almost impossible, but if you're not interested in a houseful of them, they pop up on their own everywhere. It would want to grow to about 3 feet across. I haven't repotted mine or added soil for many years, but I think it has just broken its clay pot, so I might have to do something about it. I haven't actually had new plants appearing for a while - I tend to cut off the fertile fronds.

 

That is it! Thank you, Wendy!
(Three feet across...sweet!)

Is the current taxonomy Phlebodium or Polypodium?
In what medium, and under what conditions, is yours growing? From what I am reading, my plant would prefer well-draining soil to the sphagnum in which is it now living.

And, from your information...a bigger pot!

 

Someone else has to answer these questions. I have found this to be very forgiving. I have mine about 2 meters from a south window, in a pot way too small (you can wait a while before potting it up). I'd be surprised if there is any soil in that pot at all, but I'll be able to tell when the current pot breaks. I don't think it cares what it grows in, but I would say that you're right - there isn't any moisture retaining stuff in that pot now. I potted it too many years ago to remember what the soil was like. I just took this photo - I guess I didn't turn it for a while - now I have all the fronds facing away from the window.

 

It looks like the current name is Phlebodium aureum: Phlebodium aureum - Wikipedia, but there is also Phlebodium pseudoaureum: Phlebodium Pseudoaureum - Virginia Blue Fern, which seems to be rabbit's foot fern, similar but a little smaller, and I thought more finely lobed leaves. I'm not sure you can tell yet which it is, but maybe you can find the person around you with the adult plant.

 

Sure looks like Phlebodium pseudoaureum. But, as you say, early days yet.

Thanks for your informative responses, plus the photo of your fern. What my little guy may aspire to!

Where did my plant come from...? Perhaps someone nearby did have a fern outside this summer...or a spore slumbering in the sphagnum was awakened by moisture and sunlight. Pretty amazing if so, as the moss is a good ten years old.

Intend to read the moss bag very closely to see if I can get a clue from whence it (the moss) came.
Another botanical mystery.

In any case, I am pleased that the fern came to stay, and that I now (thanks to Wendy) know its name.

I am cheered!

 

(With apologies to Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick.)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Tiny ferns turn overnight to giants
Sporulating even as we gaze

Yellow pot in photo below is fern's original home, seen in photo above.

 

It's doing very well! I understand that it's difficult to propagate ferns from the spores when you want to do that, but I have over the years found new plants growing in several pots 15 feet away in my living room. You might want to keep an eye out.