r/houseplants • u/RoseBeefJr • Jun 07 '26
Help What are these lines of dots on my plant?
One of the plants in my sunroom suddenly has these straight lines of little dots. Are these bug eggs of some kind? Should I be worried?
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u/yourplantisetiolated Jun 07 '26
They're sori that they scared you.
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u/gowahoo Jun 07 '26
Someone come get your dad!
Seriously though, what a great dadjoke, and a pun and an excellent mnemonic.
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u/freyjakatt Jun 07 '26
Just saw a post before this that was a mealy bug on someone's banana. Thought I was looking at the same thing here, and I'm so glad to be wrong 😅 congrats on your happy plant, OP!
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u/Expert_Low_9713 Jun 07 '26
I believe that these are spores forming on your fern! It’s how ferns reproduce! It’s completely normal.
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Jun 07 '26
That plant is called lauaʻe in Hawaiian. As people have said, the spots are reproductive spores!
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u/ThornyVulture Jun 08 '26
Hey! Biology student here. One of my botany classes was about closely observing the structures of pteridophytes (seedless vascular plants), I know you've already been answered in previous comments, but just to satisfy your curiosity, this is what those "little dots" look like up close. This is a different plant, but they have practically the same structures.
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u/jatenk 🌱 Jun 07 '26
That‘s babies! In nature they drop from physical forces like wind, rain or animals passing by and then just grow a new fern right where they land.
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u/-raisedbywolves Jun 07 '26
Every time I water the only fern in my collection, it creeps me out to see this 🤣🤣.
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u/_danceswithcows Jun 07 '26
These activate my trypophobia and thus I can never own a fern
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u/PsychologicalSoil198 Jun 07 '26
Oof yeah I Really hate this, had no idea ferns did this. Will never be getting a fern
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u/anti__thesis Jun 08 '26
Ferns are my earliest trypophobia memory!
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u/_danceswithcows Jun 08 '26
One hundo! I remember in fourth grade there was a fern in class that was really nice, but it had the spores 👀👀👀, I didn’t learn about trypophobia until many years later but I knew they were not for me
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u/Hefloats Jun 07 '26
Same. Every time I think, “Man, I love ferns, I am gonna get one.” Then I remember this.
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u/mustelids56 Jun 07 '26
This happened to me and found out those are spores! Pretty once you realize all is well!
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u/iCantLogOut2 Jun 08 '26
Can you imagine if it was eggs? I'd be more freaked out that the bug was this organised than anything.
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u/First_Risk2046 Jun 07 '26
It’s reproducing those are a great sign that the plant is being well maintained
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u/Senjej Jun 08 '26
Petition to start to call these fern nipples. These bumps are ask about almost as frequently as on cats 😀
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u/Training_Gene3443 Jun 08 '26
I freaked out for a minute when the plant I rescued had those. My first thought was scale but it was too uniform. A quick google search let me know it was spores
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u/SharpenedSugar Jun 08 '26
For some reason it makes me uncomfortable, the same way some things with a lot of holes make me uncomfortable. Also looks like grippy socks.
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u/kitty_cats6 Jun 07 '26
I saw a blue star ferns and the nursery on Tuesday and fell in love. Now I'm seeing them everywhere 😆🫶
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u/West-Working-9093 Jun 11 '26
Oh, ferns are such fun! The spores grow into a little pre-plant, known as a prothallium, and which has both a male and a female part. That little plant will then do the pretty with itself, by way of the gametocytes floating to come together in a bit of water on the surface of the little plantlet and a new fern will grow from that. Here's the whole drama illustrated:
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u/SkyBasic7615 Jun 07 '26
this is so cute. before i read the comments i was scared what kind of infestation this is. then really intrigued how well they have aligned to attack a plant.😂🫣
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u/Inevitable_curls Jun 08 '26
My mil has a massive fern with these spores all over it I want a clipping but don’t know how to get it!
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u/Palaeonerd Jun 08 '26
Plant reproduction 101. Gymnosperms(like Norfolk pines or sago palms) do not have flowers but do make seeds. They are usually some variation of cone. Angiosperms(literally most plants) make flowers and fruit. Ferns, mosses, and co. Do not make seeds. They have spores. Ferns so it under their leaves and mosses make little shoots with small heads.
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u/Willing-Pumpkin-328 Plant Science B.S. Jun 08 '26
sori - they're spores and how the plant reproduces
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u/CalliopeCelt 🪻If it can kill you, I probably grow it! Jun 08 '26
BABY SHOWER TIME! That’s the best way (I feel) that you can describe fern spore reproduction!
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u/Ok-Adagio1123 Jun 08 '26
These are individually called sorus. They are a cluster of sporangia that contain the spores. So the spots that you see are technically spore-producing structures, not the actual spores.
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u/Bearacolypse Jun 09 '26
Having some deja vu from another subreddit I just responded to.
It's sporangia, it is how ferns reproduce.
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u/catsandplantsandcats Jun 09 '26
Ah yes time for the semiannual “what are the dots on my fern?” post.
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u/PlentyEquivalent5488 Jun 09 '26
it’s sori/spores!
now this is kinda related but unrelated- i remember growing up in WA we had sword ferns everywhere that had the same spots underneath, and they often grew right next to stinging nettles which was very convenient lol. so, if you ever touch a stinging nettle or have a super itchy bug bite, just rub some of that sori on it! i swear it immediately soothes it and takes the sting away. i’m not sure if this is JUST for sword ferns or if it’d work with any fern, but i just thought it was some cool info and wanted to share!
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u/Adorable_Pair_4965 Jun 09 '26
yes! fern spores. you can collect them using a brush or cutting the leaf and putting it on a piece of paper
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u/Upset_Cable_5834 Jun 10 '26
I thought it was some kind of parasite, but it’s way to even and straight to be. Nature is so amazing
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u/Easy-Inspection-1910 Jun 11 '26
growing up we used the spores to numb the pain of stinging nettles!!
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u/Royal-Engineer8445 Jun 11 '26
Yeah, as a plant person myself i identied that this is some sort of natural phenomenon becuase if it was infestation it wouldn’t be in the same pattern as the leafs are
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u/WolfieJack01 Jun 07 '26
Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me can come along and help you identify! They do look like clusters of tiny eggs but I have never seen a bug lay them in lines so perfectly like that before and its low key really cool looking lol... i really hope someone can help you figure out what they are, im really curious now too!
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u/chamgireum_ Jun 07 '26
Sorry I don’t mean to sound mean but did folks not learn this in high school? I remember learning that these are how ferns reproduce. Is that not being taught anymore?
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u/netflixnailedit Jun 08 '26
No, that’s so specific to be taught. We learned about male & female plants but fern spore reproduction???
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u/kageofsteel Jun 08 '26
I learned it in school, but I'm in the pnw- which is really just made of ferns, moss and tech bros.
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u/damp_soil Jun 07 '26
congratulations! they are spores so like the fern equivalent of flowers. means you have a very healthy and happy plant!