A reply:
" The photo is a very fine - prize-winning - specimen of a Nephrolepis. It
may well be N. exaltata, a tropical American species, widely cultivated and
with many ornate and fancy cultivars as well. However I seem to have
mislaid my copy of the monograph, so can't look up the details until I find
it. Maybe you can find the well known journal in a library: Hovenkamp,
P.H. & Miyamoto, A conspectus of the native and naturalised species of
Nephrolepis (Nephrolepidaceae) in the world, Blumea 50: 279-322.
The stipe and rachis scales are very important in this genus - and
are not shown in the photographs. It is not N. cordifolia, of course. I
will check N. exaltata and also N. falciformis when I can remember where on
earth I put that monograph!
About fern-spores, they are very widely grown on a large scale in
many countries. The big commercial Dutch company, Royal Lemkes [?Lemkas],
propagates huge numbers of plantlets from spores in sterile conditions.
There is a nice paper in the Fern Gazette, c. 1975 by Professor John Lovis
(then at Leeds) on how they grew plants from spores and then hybridised
them leading to genome analysis showing the origin of allopolyploid
species. In fact there are well known spore-exchanges running
internationally, including from the British Pteridological Society and the
American one.
The late Professor Reichstein grew large numbers of Asplenium species
from spores in Switzerland for cytological and morphological study, and his
greenhouses had rows of small pots with large watch-glasses over them, of
growing spores and sporelings. I myself also grew large numbers of
Dryopteris for hybridisation during my Ph.D. research and they are usually
easy to grow from spores.
While some people use agar plates or tubes, these are subject to
fungal infections rather easily, and for most species there is actually no
real need to do that. Most people simply sterilise the soil by pouring on
boiling water in little small pots, when cool, sprinkle the spores, then
cover the pots with a watch-glass and don't allow them to dry off - stand
in a saucer of water from time to time. Those that get badly infected with
algae and moss protonema can be thrown away, or the prothalli separated
when large enough. Mature prothalli need some water drops or more to sit
on the surface when they are ready to fertilise. Sporelings can be
"pricked out" (separated) into slightly larger pots, with four or five
individuals, then separated again individually later. Prof. Reichstein
used to find that spores grew a lot better in spring-time than in Winter -
how do they know when to grow?!
My late father and I grew a nice batch of tree-ferns from spores in
Wales when I was about 8 or 9, and several grew to full maturity in our
greenhouse over about 20 years. I've also seen very fine agar-tube
cultivation of the beautiful Cyathea crinita down at the Tropical Botanic
Garden Research Institute near Trivandrum. But we also grew it on soil at
home in the UK.
Warning! Once you start and get into it, one can't stop!!! And with
spore-exchanges one can grow all sorts of interesting things.
Happy sporulating!
Chris Fraser-Jenkins, Kathmandu. "
On 6 November 2011 14:00, J.M. Garg <[email protected]> wrote:
> Forwarding again for Id assistance please.
>
> Some earlier relevant feedback:
>
> “Nice photo Bhagyashiri ji. Is it possible to grow new ferms from the
> spores? I tried once but failed. Please let me know.
>
> Regards,
>
> Mani”
>
>
>
> “Mani Ji its possible but you need to grown then in culture media and then
> transfer !! quite hard to grown them naturally
> Tanay”
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Madhuri Raut <[email protected]>
> Date: 6 August 2011 10:01
> Subject: [efloraofindia:76191] ferns
> To: efloraofindia <[email protected]>
>
>
> Would like to share pictures of Ferns in my garden
> Regards
> Bhagyashri
>
>
>
> --
> With regards,
> J.M.Garg ([email protected])
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1
> 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna'
> The whole world uses my Image Resource of more than a *thousand species*&
> eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged
> alphabetically & place-wise):
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg. You can also use
> them for free as per Creative Commons license attached with each image.
> For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora,
> please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group:
> http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix (more than 1740 members &
> 90,000 messages on 31/10/11) or Efloraofindia website:
> https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/ (with a species database
> of more than 6000 species).
> Also author of 'A Photoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of
> India'.
>
>
--
With regards,
J.M.Garg ([email protected])
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1
'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna'
The whole world uses my Image Resource of more than a *thousand species* &
eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged
alphabetically & place-wise):
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg. You can also use them
for free as per Creative Commons license attached with each image.
For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora,
please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group:
http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix (more than 1740 members &
90,000 messages on 31/10/11) or Efloraofindia website:
https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/ (with a species database
of more than 6000 species).
Also author of 'A Photoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of
India'.
