What's on this leaf?

The purpose of this forum is to help people identify things they've seen while out hiking: wildflowers, trees, birds, insects, small animals, animal tracks, even geographical features like buttes or streams
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derwoodynck
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What's on this leaf?

Post by derwoodynck » January 16th, 2017, 9:17 am

My wife spotted this leaf on the ground near the Rock Creek Campground on the coast 1/15/17. Image

Image

The way they were lined up was impressive and had us wondering what it is.

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kaltbluter
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Re: What's on this leaf?

Post by kaltbluter » January 16th, 2017, 10:02 am

Spores? But where did the rest go?

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derwoodynck
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Re: What's on this leaf?

Post by derwoodynck » January 16th, 2017, 11:18 am

I'd say you're right, maybe the frond broke off before all of them ripened? From the Hardy Fern Foundation: "In the Pacific Northwest, spores ripen from late May through October and will waft off like fine dust."

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bobcat
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Re: What's on this leaf?

Post by bobcat » January 16th, 2017, 7:48 pm

Those are the spores of leathery polypody (Polypodium scouleri).

Edit: Well, you can't actually see spores. What you see are the sori (singular: sorus) which contain the sporangia that are formed of spores (The latter are microscopic). These sori do not seem to be mature and are probably at the very beginning of their development, meaning that others could still pop up if this frond remains attached to the plant.

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BigBear
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Re: What's on this leaf?

Post by BigBear » January 19th, 2017, 9:46 am

I see the spores on the undersides of sword ferns in a much greater quantity.

In this photo, they look more like militant lady bugs about to come alive (think Invasion of the Body Snatchers). Interesting that they did not form all over the plant, just in these limited rows.

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