Primitive Plant ID Needed

pitbulllady

Arachnoking
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May 1, 2004
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I picked this up today at a roadside produce stand/flea market/yard sale when I stopped to buy some boiled peanuts; the guy selling it had some plants that he said were part of an estate sale, and he was told that it was a fern of some sort, but I'm not sure if it is a true fern or one of the spike mosses, like a Selaginella sp.. It's in a six-inch pot and seems to be in fairly good shape, even though the soil in the pot was dry. The plant has a very stiff, almost wiry texture similar to my Selaginella martinsii. Anyone got a clue what it really is?

Here's a few pics:




pitbulllady
 

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Arachnoknight
Joined
Sep 11, 2011
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221
No idea on an id but the stems look too woody to be a selaginella....i could be wrong but I doubt selaginella.

From the pics it almost looks coniferous....

Good luck with the id..
 

SamuraiSid

Arachnodemon
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Sep 30, 2010
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758
It looks an awful lot like a particular native species around here.... Id have to find the plant and take a pic to be sure though...

Edit: I just showed my wife, and she says she has seen them around here as well.

Perhaps some sort of coniferous fern shrub?
 
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pitbulllady

Arachnoking
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Found out what it is, as I was able to track down the nursery where it was originally purchased, Indigo Marsh Nursery in Florence, SC. As I suspected, it IS indeed a Selaginella, S. pallucens to be exact, commonly referred to as "Arbor Vitae Fern" after the popular evergreen cypress shrub it does indeed resemble.
I really need to go back to this amazing place when I've got some money; I'm quite surprised I didn't know about it before and I only found out by asking the guy at the roadside stand where he'd gotten this plant. They have a nice fern selection, which isn't common to see, as most places only carry the Boston ferns.

pitbulllady
 

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Arachnoknight
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Sep 11, 2011
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I stand corrected...
Very nice nonetheless...
 
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