# Some Plant ID's Needed



## pitbulllady (Dec 24, 2012)

Got four new plants, two "wild-caught" and two store-bought, that I can't find ID's on, so I'm hoping that someone here can at least point me in the right direction.  I have not really found any decent websites that offer a detailed "key" to ID these.

First up, what is probably a native plant to SC, collected on the bank of a small stream in Darlington County(Pee Dee River drainage basin/upper Coastal Plain, if that helps).  It grows radially, loves really dark, wet, rich soil, and exhibits a considerable degree of "movement" tropisms in response to temperature changes, lifting up when temps are warmer and becoming more flat and recumbent when it's colder.  It has tolerated captivity very well since being collected over two weeks ago and also is very tolerant of cold.  The plant is in bloom now, producing a cluster of VERY tiny white flowers, thus ruling out any of the primitive non-flowering plants. Leaves are paired and dicot.  The flower cluster in its entirety is no bigger than the little circles at the bottom of this post for selection of emoticons, if that large.  
Pic of entire plant:






Pics of flower cluster:











Here's the other plant, collected on the same creek bank on the same day.  It's a Selaginella, much to my delight, and I actually nabbed two of these, though they are possibly just part of the same plant because they were less than three feet from one another and connected via underground rhizomes.  There might have been others but the weather decided to take a turn for the worse thus ending my little expedition.  Now, these fit the description of _Selaginella moellendorfii_, including the "gemmniferous" tips on the fronds, BUT...even though SC does have a few non-native Selaginellas that have established here, _S. moellendorfii_ is not listed as one of them.  There is a possibility that they are _S. braunii_, which looks similar and IS established throughout the Southeast, but that species is not mentioned as having those tiny little pinecone-like tips unless I'm mistaking those for the reproductive structures of _S. moellendorphii_ when they are really something else.







Close-up of the tips:











Now for the store-bought plants; first one is also a Selaginella, purchased at a large nursery yesterday.  It is a HUGE specimen, and is currently housed in a five-gallon tree planter which is way too small, but the weather is nasty again thus preventing me from being able to re-pot it in anything larger.  There was no label, and the people at the store didn't know which specie it was, only that it was a Selaginella.  It appears to be in bad need of a feeding(taken care of already)and was on the dry side.  It resembles pics I've seen of _Selaginella umbrosa_, but it's different, too, so I'm not sure on this one.

Whole plant, sitting in a recliner chair which it fills:






A frond, close up:











Second bought plant was purchased at a Lowe's, also without a label.  It is a succulent, with typically thick succulent leaves, and pendant stems, housed in an eight-inch hanging pot.  It is also in bloom, having very tiny, singular star-shaped white flowers that emerge from a short "tube".  The leaves are the size of my thumbnail and spade-shaped and arranged in pairs.  I'm thinking it's some sort of Gesneriad, based on the flowers, but I'm not certain and would love to know what it is.

Whole plant:











Flowers:











Any help with these, or at least a reliable plant ID website?

pitbulllady


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## BorisTheSpider (Dec 24, 2012)

Can't help with the ID , but "wild-caught" plant is hysterical .

Reactions: Like 1


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## Tarac (Dec 26, 2012)

The one from lowe's with the little white flower is a Dischidia.  Working on the others, see what I can find about them.

Could the first one collected from the stream be a Cardamine of some type?  It looks like Brassicaceae to me, possibly Cardamine hirsuta?  How many petals?  Did the inflorescence extend upwards on any of the plants you saw or where they all still fairly early in development like the one you have pictured.

Can't help with the Selaginella unfortunately, I'm not that informed about ferns in general and don't know any pteridologists personally.


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## Pipa (Jan 19, 2013)

Wild Caught plant ? Was it as difficult to collect as chasing Basilisks ?


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## pitbulllady (Jan 19, 2013)

Pipa said:


> Wild Caught plant ? Was it as difficult to collect as chasing Basilisks ?


I guess you didn't notice the quotation marks I put around the term "wild caught", or was able to figure out why I put them there. But no, not as difficult as pursuing a Basilisk sprinting across a pond in Costa Rica, but as difficult as snagging a Banded Water Snake hiding in a drain pipe that empties into a golf course water hazard.

pitbulllady


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