Ferns

Discussion in 'Plants: Identification' started by crogovin, Jun 7, 2009.

  1. crogovin

    crogovin Member

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    Can you help me identify these ferns? FG10 fern.jpg

    FG12 ferns.jpg

    FG14 fern.jpg
     
  2. saltcedar

    saltcedar Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    2nd plant is a Cycad.
     
  3. Barbara Lloyd

    Barbara Lloyd Well-Known Member

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    Could #3 be a Sago Palm? (not a palm at all but a Cycad) I've only seen them as house plants so not to sure. Barb
     
  4. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    #3 is a Sago Cycad Cycas revoluta. Sometimes wrongly called a palm.
     
  5. saltcedar

    saltcedar Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Cycas taitungensis, perhaps but not I think C. revoluta
     
  6. DGuertin

    DGuertin Active Member 10 Years

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    1st one looks like Dicksonia antarctica, but could also be Cyathea sp... Hard to say with just the one photo, but it has the coarse look of D. ant.

    Centre of the 2nd photo is Adiantum sp. Might be trapeziforme...

    3rd is not a fern, but a cycad, as noted. Likely to be Cycas revoluta, but could just as easily be taitungensis or any of several others.

    Of course, if these photos were taken at a botanical garden of any form, all bets are off.
     
  7. crogovin

    crogovin Member

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    Thanks for your speculations on my 'ferns'. The photos were actually taken at a botanical garden. Why do you say that affects the identification?
     
  8. DGuertin

    DGuertin Active Member 10 Years

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    Main reason being that there are really only a few species you're liable to find in common cultivation. Botanical gardens of whatever form tend to have access to a whole lot more than mere mortals, so what would be a pretty certain ID for a nursery purchase gets a whole lot more complicated when you're dealing with a botanical garden.

    The cycad is a very good case in point. If this were something that you picked up at Wal-mart or some such, it would 99.99999% certainly be Cycas revoluta. Given that it's in a botanical garden, it could be any number of mirror species, such as taitungensis, as cedar noted above. There are 'complexes' in cycads, where you have any number of species within a genus distributed across sometimes vast swathes of land or water, and they share a large number of traits. It is, of course, the differences that make the species, but it's still very complicated when you get right down to it...
     
  9. crogovin

    crogovin Member

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    I understand. Thanks.[/I]
     
  10. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    That's why I said C. revoluta rather than any other species ;-)
     

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