That's Asparagus plumosa, a flowering plant. It is a tuberous rooted
perennial, originally from southern Africa. The flowers are often followed
by orange berries. The branches are commonly used in floral arrangements.

True ferns are not flowering plants.


"John Jordan" wrote in message
...
This post is on my behalf of my 86 year old grandfather - who is quite
internet savy, but alas not into Newsgroups yet ;-)

He has a fern (houseplant) which according to him is what he calls either
a
maiden hair fern or an asparagus fern. See pic below. It could be either
or
neither I guess.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?F6FA21089

He thinks he has had it at least 30 years - but has no idea of its origin.
He has cut it back from time to time but other than that, it has been a
bit
neglected and seems to have thrived on it.

The interesting thing is, it has just decided to flower after all these
years. It was covered in tiny white flowers (most had dropped off by the
time I got round there with my camera but a few are still visible on the
pic). The flowers don't actually appear from the stems, they are on the
actual fronds themselves.

My grandads question is - is this rare ? Is the plant likely to die now ?
Does anyone know what kind of plant it is ? Will it seed ?

Hope somebody may be able to help. I keep telling him that you can find
out
'anything' on the internet - so he has put me on the spot now ;-)


Kind regards & thanks to anyone who can help.

John J