blue star fern spores 4" Fern, Blue Star

In spite of its delicate aspect, this little star is one of the tougher ferns around. In the wild it clambers up tropical jungle trees using thick, ropy rhizomes covered in bristly, bright, rusty red dyed hair which send out tenacious roots that attach themselves firmly to those trees, digging and poking around anywhere they can get a grip. Those same rhizomes travel the soil surface of the fern when it's in the pot and will happily just walk over the edge of the pot looking for trouble. Or some more new soil to colonize. Tinted a glowing aqua blue, the fronds are long fingers on long hands with wavy edges looking as if they're a water plant rippling in a pond. They actually have a crispy texture and are often dotted on the undersides with even patterns of spores resembling little mounds of cinnamon. Sprinkle some of the spores in a damp terrarium and watch the baby Blue Stars sprout up. Really, sprinkle any fern spores in there and they may grow!  It's an interesting, unruly sort of character.