A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Mystery Plants? Self-potting plant ID???

So I took a tour of a greenhouse and they told us about a lot of the different plants in it, most of which I'd never heard of or seen before. I was wondering if you could help me to ID one that really stuck out to me. I believe it's a tropical plant but I'm not sure. It doesn't need a pot. It has modified leaves that wrap around the base of the plant kind of like a cup and it catches fallen leaves and feces of animals/insects. As it grows the "open" cup will close and the roots, growing out of the previous cup, will enter the new cup and live in the soil that the plant made for itself. I have no idea if I'm describing this well at all but it was really such a cool plant and google isn't helping me with anything I can think to search.

It sounds like an orchid type plant. But I really have no clue. I know it would not live here because it is too dry.

There were a lot of orchids in the green house but it wasn't in the same section so I'm not sure. It didn't really look like an orchid. It had pale-green leaves, almost grey. If I remember correctly they were thinner at the bottom and branched out into almost on oak-leaf shape only much larger. I'll try to go back and get a picture.

I'm wondering if it could be an Airplant,, Tillandsia? there are lots of species of these,, and they bloom as well.

Thank you for the guess but no, it's much bigger. The green house did have one of those though :)

A staghorn fern is an air plant that is huge. There are millions of them.

I was thinking stag horn fern as a afterthought because of the shape of the leaves,,

AngelBlossom, that's it!! Thank you so much!

They are really cool aren't they?
Tina nudged the fact I remembered I thought about that after I posted the first time, Thanks Tina
A friend of mine had one for years and had it mounted on a tree branch in her home, it was the coolest plant I'd seen. I've had a few over the years and once in a while I see them at home depo, or Lowes , I just don't see them as often as I used too, I wonder why that is???

They're definitely on my "to own" list now. Just have no clue how to get one as I've never seen one until this greenhouse. And it's certainly not for sale there. I wonder how it grows inside? I'm sure it won't enjoy New England's weather- not many plants do. I'll definitely be looking up more information.

Thank you to every that helped out, I really appreciate it!

My friend that had one for years always kept hers inside, and I kept mine inside as well. I'm sure in the spring you could get one on line, BUT IF I were you I would call your local nurserys and request one, Many nursery's will order you one, Be sure to state what size you want and Mounted or Unmounted if you want to mount your own. Start looking now on the internet for prices and sizes so you'll have a ball park of what you'd like to have. Good Luck and let us know if you have success in getting one, or at least having a nursery agreeing to order you one.