Plantidote of the Day 2010-12-22
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Mystery fern
This was shot last week, before the Great Deluge turned Zone 10 into a vast swamp. It's about three feet tall, seems to enjoy living in the shade of a couple much larger trees and looks familiar -- but what is it? (If you click on the image, you'll get a larger picture, which might be easier to identify.)
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Readers, please send twig (twig4now@gmail.com) images and stories for the ongoing Plantidote of the Day series. In exchange, you'll win undying fame in the form of a hat tip! Plants growing in your garden, your house, or neighbor's yard, plants from the forest or farmers' market, plants you preserved, plants you prepared (wine; cider; tea; dried beans), plants you harvested (grains; chantrelles), plants you picked (flowers), plants you dried (herbs), plants you covet or hope to grow someday. Herbal remedies, propagation tips, new varieties, etc.. And if you can, include some solid detail about the plant, too -- a story, the genus and species, or where you got the seeds, or the recipe, or your grandmother gave it to you. Or challenge us with a "Name That Plant" mystery entry ... And please feel free to add corrections and additional information in the comments.
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Comments
Are you sure it's a fern?
It looks like Albizia julibrissin (Mimosa). I think it also goes by the name sensitive plant, but I'm no plant expert.
I don't think it looks like a fern either,
and when I first saw it, it resembles the sumac that grows wild around here in zone 6. Look up golden cut lead sumac and see the resemblance in the leaf structure, not the color. Maybe I'm way off, but that's the first thing I thought of.
mimosa of some kind ...
is my guess. there appear to be hundreds of species in 3? different genera. this one is common here in my area.
Aha, maybe it's not a fern ...
it does look like some of the mimosas, or possibly sumac or acacia. I'll keep an eye on it and see if it blooms or changes as it gets bigger.
Thanks, jerz, andre and hipp -- more to come!
Does it have thorns?
Acacias have thorns. Besides, like everybody said, it looks like some sort of mimosa to me.
I'll have to check on the thorns ... I don't think it did
have any, but this is actually in my neighbor's yard, so I'll look tomorrow. It's sounding more and more like a mimosa.