# Lomariopsis cf. lineata experiment..



## zozo (26 Aug 2017)

Months ago, could be closer to a year, actualy forgot.. But doesn't matter.. Anyway, the story goes this plant is a Prothallus from the Terrestrial fern Lomaropsis sp. Genetic research did put it closest to L. lineata, but that is just a researchers educated guess.. Till now nobody could get it to germinate and confirm it's true origine. I did put it to the test in a bottle on a layer of sand and bits of sphagnum, closed it, and sprayed it now and then to simulate rain whit the hope it might do what it reportedly till now never did.  All that started as said close to a year ago.




 

This morning i noticed something that nocked me out of my shoes.. I saw very tiny simular shaped leaves sticking up on little tiny stems. And that's something a prothallus doesn't have? Do you see it??




Seen from above


 

Drained a bit water out to have a better look again. I'm growing and trimming Lomariopsis cf. lineata for years now submersed.. Never ever seen it make something looking like this, leaves on a stem.


 
Could it be true, is that a little baby fern growing?? Is it actualy realy happening? Did it manage to germinate and grow a little sporophyte?? Or is this pure change taking me for a ride and it's a different spore germinating which sneaked in with the sphagnum. But it definitively looks like a little baby fern.


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## Tim Harrison (26 Aug 2017)

Must admit it was my first thought that something had sneaked in.
But what if it actually did manage to germinate and grow a little sporophyte...it'd be a major botanical coup.
Either way I hope it continues to grow, and then maybe you can get it genetically tested


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## zozo (26 Aug 2017)

I noticed it grows on a small piece of sphagnum, i could take it out and move it to another bottle on it's own.. I also think since it grows from the sphagnum this is pure chance, coinsidence and likely something different. Tho Lomariopsis also forks like that biggest leaf on this little plantlet does. It throws me off, dunno what to think, if it is it's a very exciting coincidence.. So i keep it for now with thinking wishfully..


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## Tim Harrison (26 Aug 2017)

Definitely keep it and see what happens, you never know. Nature sometimes throws up surprises, often when you least expect them. 
_Lomaropsis cryptomarcelensis_ has a certain ring to it


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## zozo (26 Aug 2017)

Tim Harrison said:


> Lomaropsis cryptomarcelensis


 
At first the coin didn't drop i was ??? and actualy googled it..


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## zozo (26 Aug 2017)

Tim Harrison said:


> Either way I hope it continues to grow, and then maybe you can get it genetically tested



It's wait and see.. If it turns into something like this, i guess we are very close even without testing. 


 


For now it is so tiny i do not have the courage to take out and have a real close look... The camera focuses more on the dirty glass than the plantlet. But looking with a magnifying glass it looks more like 2 leaves than 1 forked leaf. As in the last pic from previous post, the angle makes it look like 1 forked leaf, but it isn't.. So the leafshape has a simularity.  To it also looks lobed.. I'm getting a bit caried away here  get the run to fast fly to high feeling, but other Lomariopsis sp. have a somewhat lobed leaves..


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## Tim Harrison (26 Aug 2017)

Keep posting updates, I'll be following its progress closely. I'm really hoping you're right


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## zozo (27 Aug 2017)

Tried to get some beter pictures with the tripod and more light. But macro photography from something in a glass bottle is a bugger..

From above.. So definitively a forked leaf.. Tho lighter in color i can't help seeing simularities with what stands next to it, Lomariopsis.




From the side through the glass bottle.




The glass aint clear, that's the best i can get. In reality this maybe is 5 mm plantlet.




Now lets just wait a few weeks more.. That's all i can do..


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## Tim Harrison (29 Sep 2017)

Marcel any more news on this experiment?


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## zozo (29 Sep 2017)

Well it goes agonizingly slow, i don't see the plantlet grow very much.  Tho it's still there.. I placed the bottle into the sump, this has a constant 12 hour light and 22°C temp.. I guess if i keep it under natural ligh source in fluctuating ambient chilly night temps it wont grow at all till next summer.. If this little plant is a fern?? Assume it is... According the guides i could find about growing ferns from spores, it might take a year ore more before it grows some body.  But for now it's still as shown above..


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## Tim Harrison (29 Sep 2017)

Well at least it's holding it's own and hasn't died back, so you must still be doing something right


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## zozo (29 Sep 2017)

Tim Harrison said:


> Well at least it's holding it's own and hasn't died back, so you must still be doing something right



Actualy not doing much at all.. Got intrigued with the story of how Ferns propagate from spore to gametophyte to sporophyte. And that it needs splashing water for that.
So it got me thinking prothalliums in one hand ready for the bin and an empty botlle in the other. thought what the heck why not?? If you never shoot, you'll never hit.. Did put it in closed it and only opened it to spray it once in a while to simulate rain, did that for a few months maybe 2 or 3. Than forgot about it for many more months, when i looked again i saw that little plantlet growing in it. 

So in this case, doing nothing might have been the right thing to do. But for now it remains a mystery all i can do is keep it light and warm. It can be anything but.. I can not exclude any contamination with allien plant sp.


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## MWood (31 Dec 2018)

Just stumbled upon this thread and extremely curious to find out where it went next, if you would be so kind?


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## zozo (31 Dec 2018)

MWood said:


> Just stumbled upon this thread and extremely curious to find out where it went next, if you would be so kind?



I was already afraid someone would ask.. 

Stupid me, i killed it.. It was during winter time and thought it might get to cold and the light periode to short, so i did put the jar in my lit sump that has a constant warmer temp and a low intensity 12H light periode. Thought it was a smart idea to place the jar in the sump on a platform above the water level. One day i had a power cut and the water level in the sump rose to high, it tipped over the jar and it got completely flooded.

After finding it on the sumps bottom and emptying it again the little plantlet didn't take it very well it melted away..  Probably because of the water was rather well fertilized. I burned the crap out of that little baby fern.

Till now this was the first and last time a little plantet develop on my emersed Lomariopsis... I still feel completely gutted with stupidity when i think about it. That's why i tried to swep it under the rug and forget about it. To no avail.. Thanks for asking.. 

Still trying tho with some emersed lomariopsis in a little greenhous.


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## Tim Harrison (31 Dec 2018)

That's a shame Marcel, I feel for you, especially since I'm also someone who's had more than his fair share of misfortune and misadventure when it comes to growing plants.
I'm sure you'll succeed with your emersed lomariopsis attempts; persistence is often the key...


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## zozo (31 Dec 2018)

Thanks Tim.  Indeed a shame, in my case it more feels like stupidity, not thinking of the actual evident risk i took. Especialy stuppid since it was something rather very unique on the brink of a little exciting botanical break through about it's true origine. That fact alone should been enough to be extra carefull. 

But we can't turn back time and we'll never know if it was realy a Lomariopsis baby fern or just some kind of coincidental contamination.

All i can do is keep spraying what i still have growing and wait and wait..


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