# Trilobed emersed java fern leaf...



## Xema (Mar 24, 2004)

Sometimes, my emersed Microsorum pteropues send trilobed leaves. I am not really sure why is that.









I think the reply of that situation it is in the back side of the leaf.










Seems to be a fertile leaf with lot of spore-maker structures.

More information in spanish

Greets from Spain


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## mrbelvedere138 (Jan 18, 2006)

I have to ask, and I mean no offense whatsoever, I am asking a genuine question......what's the fascination with emersed plants? I could see doing it for collector purposes, or maybe a paludarium/vivarium/terrarium/etc.


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## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

no worries that algae will mess up the mother plant you are trying to grow. Some very slow growers in an aquarium can be propagated better/faster that way. It is a way to store plants you arn't useing in a scape at the moment. 

these are my guesses...


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## Xema (Mar 24, 2004)

I am a fan of aquatic plants, I like to know about them, so I need a easy and cheap way to grow them, this way is emersed. Some advantages of growing emersed:

Don´t need water changes.
Don´t need artificial lighting (in the most of case).
Don´t need CO2 inyection.
Don´t need special soil and other features
Emersed culture is the most stable way to keep the plants
Only is needed an bit of sunshine place in your home and a little heater on winter.

Greets from Spain


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## s0mt1nf1shy (Mar 14, 2005)

how did you convert your java fern...I don't have luck with mine.


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## newellcr (Nov 16, 2004)

Xema,

Submerged plants will do this also. My experience is that Java Fern will do this occasionally when the plants are growing well. 

Cheers,

Chris


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## Happy Camper (Jul 22, 2004)

Nice one Xema.

I have a rather large Java fern in my Tanganyikan setup who's underleaves are filled with seeds too. You can scarpe them off with a razor blade and place on some damp cotton wool, as soon as they start sprouting leaves you can float them in a tank with minimal surface agitation and they will take off.


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## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

I'm not certain, but it may be a common mutation.

I've had various conditions (neglect!) and C02 injected with better light. I've had three lobed in both environments. But, it's always limited to a rhizome or two. In my CO2 injected tank, many plants were very healthy, but only one produced the tri lobe.

I'm getting rid of all my generic java fern to see if this increases the frequency of it. Perhaps one can get a cultivar that way.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

It's normal on healthy, mature plants. You see it quite a bit in the 'Red' variety.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

That is a lot of nice looking spores! I know if that leaf was in water or even floating the spores would sprout, they will not sprout when dry correct?


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## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

"Red variety"???

How does this compare to the 'tropica', 'windlov' and a narrow leafed form?

I'm trying to collect them all


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## rain- (Dec 16, 2005)

Red is otherwise like regular java fern, but the new leaves are red. When the leaves get older, they will turn green. And it seems that if there's a lot of CO2 and light, the red is stronger than in lower light settings. This is a picture of my java fern ´Red´ (there's also a trilobed new leaf although you can't see it fully from the picture since it's behind some other leaves):


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## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

So,

Exactly how many cultivars of this are out there?


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

Hi, 
the botanical garden of Goettingen (Germany) once obtained several forms of M. pteropus from Tropica, and together with the forms already cultivated there before that, in this botanical garden 17 or 18 forms are cultivated (some may be identical). In tropical Asia a lot of different forms of this species seems to exist. Smaller forms with rather narrow leaves obviously have always entire, non-lobed leaves even in the emersed stage, while trilobed (rarely 5-lobed) leaves are typical for the larger forms. Lobed leaves are also frequent within the whole genus _Microsorum_ and related genera, so that the lobed leaves of _M. pteropus_ can be seen as a primitive character shared with related species.
- Heiko


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## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

Oh!

I want them all!

:lol:


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## rodmarquezjr (Jul 16, 2006)

I think it's a naturally occuring leaf variation, although it's not a permanent and consistent mutation. It's this natural tendency to have leaf variations that enthusiasts of terrestrial microsorums and other polypodium ferns have epxloited to produce fantastically beautiful mutations.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

rodmarquezjr said:


> although it's not a permanent and consistent mutation.


 IMHO trilobed leaves are the characteristic leaf shape of the bigger variants of M. pteropus. Growing emersed, most leaves of adult plants are trilobed. Not only cultivated plants, but also herbarium specimens of bigger plants I've seen mostly have this leaf shape.


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## snowy (Jun 6, 2006)

fwiw I have a few large plants that consistantly produce trilobed leaves in a fully submersed state.


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

My java fern sprouted a trilobed leaf over a year ago, and now that I'm injecting CO2 and fertilizing, it is covered in spores that are sprouting roots, plus has about three daughter plants on the tip! It is fully emersed.


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## fish_4_all (Jun 3, 2006)

Well, I have a java fern and have never seen a tri=lobe. This could be because it is supposed to be a smaller species, LFS labelled it as a mini java fern, if there is such a thing. It didn't do well but is now getting really big and puts out sister plants by the 100's.


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