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

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

In article , John Jordan
writes
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

Well, the first thing is, that is not a fern. It is a species of
asparagus, Asparagus setaceus, (related to the asparagus we eat) and
colloquially known as asparagus fern because of its fern like foliage.

That is fortunate, because ferns don't actually flower! They have a
completely different life cycle from flowering plants. Flowering plants
spend most of their time in the sexual stage, growing up, producing
flowers, pollinating each other to produce seeds. Ferns are the other
way about. They have a very short sexual stage, during which they look
not much different from green slime/moss. From this forms the fern as we
know it, which is asexual and reproduces itself by spores (lumps of
brown powder on the underside of the leaf) with no need for any
pollination or anything like that. So - his plant is definitely not a
fern!

I've never seen asparagus fern in flower but this reference mentions the
flowers, and the possibility of (poisonous) black berries afterwards -
however, see the final link below:

http://www.plants-in-buildings.com/a...=true&letter=a

and a picture is he

http://www.realgardeners.co.uk/goodb...ous_plants.htm

There doesn't seem to be any reason why it should die. It is a plant of
moist forests, and that's not an easy environment in which to get a toe
hold - it makes sense for a plant in that environment to keep going as
long as it can once it's got established.

According to the link below, male and female flowers are on separate
plants, so unless you have one of each, the female flowers won't be
pollinated and won't produce seeds (and of course the male flowers won't
produce seeds), so your grandfather won't see the black berries.

http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/p...+setaceus&CAN=
COMIND

(sorry - I haven't 'made a shorter link' - but it's the first Google
hit on "asparagus setaceus")
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Thanks for that info, I have printed all the details and will be passing on
knoweldge this week.

My reputation (and that of the wonder-web) remain untarnished ;-)

J


"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