Difference between revisions of "Fern"

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{{dablink|This article is about the family of pteridophyte plants. For the environmental organisation, see [[FERN (NGO)]]. For the letter of the [[Ogham]] alphabet, see [[Fern (letter)]]. }}
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{{SPlantbox
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{{Taxobox
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|common_name=Ferns
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| color = lightgreen
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|habit=fern
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| name = Ferns (Pteridophyta)
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|lifespan=perennial
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| fossil_range = [[Early Carboniferous]] - Recent
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|exposure=part-sun, shade
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| image = Polystichum_setiferum0.jpg
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|water=moist, moderate
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| image_width = 240px
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|features=foliage
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| image_caption = ''[[Polystichum setiferum]]'' showing unrolling young frond
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|Temp Metric=°F
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| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
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|image=Polystichum_setiferum0.jpg
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| divisio = '''Pteridophyta'''
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|image_width=240
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| subdivision_ranks = Classes
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|image_caption=''[[Polystichum setiferum]]'' showing unrolling young frond
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| subdivision =
 
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[[Psilotopsida]]<br>
 
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[[Equisetopsida]]<br>
 
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[[Marattiopsida]]<br>
 
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[[Polypodiopsida]]
 
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Inc|
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[[Image:Ferns at melb botanical gardens.jpg|thumb|Ferns at the Royal Melbourne Botanical Gardens]]
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[[Image:Ferns02.jpg|thumb|Tree ferns, probably ''Dicksonia antarctica'']]
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Ferns. The plants included under this name comprise an entire order, made up of several
 +
distinct families. They include plants varying in size from a hair- like creeping stem
 +
bearing a few simple, moss-like leaves, to tall trees 80 or more feet in height, with a stem
 +
or trunk nearly a foot in diameter. Singularly enough, the extremes in size are both found
 +
in tropical regions, in which most of the species abound. Most of the ordinary native
 +
species, as well as the larger part of those in cultivation, consist of an erect underground
 +
stem or rootstock with leaves, often called fronds, clustered in dense crowns, or in the
 +
cases of creeping stems with scattered leaves. In gardening parlance, other plants are
 +
sometimes called ferns, as species of lycopodium and selaginella, as well as oa em Asparagus
 +
plumosus.
 +
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In the life of an individual fern plant, two distinct phases occur, represented by two
 +
separate and unlike plants. The ordinary fern plant represents the asexual phase of growth
 +
(sporophyte), producing its spores normally in spore-cases, which are borne in masses on the
 +
back or margin of the leaf, or in. a few cases are grouped in spikes or panicles, or in rare
 +
cases spread in a layer over the entire under surface of the leaf. The sexual stage
 +
(gamelophyte) develops from the germinating spore, and consists of a tiny usually scale-like
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green heart- shaped prothallus, which bears the sex- organs (archegonia, female, and
 +
antheridia, male) on the under surface. After fertilization in the archegonium, the egg
 +
develops directly into a young fern plant. Many ferns also propagate vegetatively by runners
 +
or offsets, by bulblet-like buds, and in certain species the tips of the leaves bend over
 +
and take root, as in our common walking-leaf (Camptosorus, which see).
 +
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Ferns frequently hybridize. The crossing takes place naturally in the prothallium stage.
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They are not crossed by hand, as are the seed-plants, but from the accidental mixing when
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prothallia of allied species are growing together. It is a hybrid between two native
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species; it has been found in the wild in several parts of New England.
  
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A '''fern''' is any one of a group of about 20,000 [[species]] of [[plant]]s classified in the phylum or division '''Pteridophyta''', also known as '''Filicophyta'''. The group is also referred to as '''polypodiophyta''', or '''polypodiopsida''' when treated as a subdivision of [[tracheophyta]] (vascular plants). The study of ferns is called '''pteridology'''; one who studies ferns is called a '''pteridologist'''. The term [[pteridophyte]]s has traditionally been used to describe all seedless [[vascular plant]]s so is synonymous with "ferns and [[fern allies]]". This can be confusing given that the fern phylum Pteridophyta is also sometimes referred to as pteridophytes.
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Great diversity has existed in the matter of the separation of the ferns into genera.
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Hooker, relying mainly on artificial characters drawn largely from the sorus, recognized
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about seventy genera only, many of them heterogeneous groups of plants with little
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resemblance in structure, habit or natural affinities. John Smith, relying on stem
 +
characters, Presl on variation in venation and habit,Fee, Moore,and others, have recognized
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a much greater number of genera, ranging from 150 to 250, or even more. In the very unequal
 +
treatment by Diels in Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien (Engler & Prantl), some 120 genera
 +
are recognized. A somewhat similar difference prevails in regard to the number of species.
 +
The Synopsis Filicum of Hooker and Baker (1874), supplemented by Baker's New Ferns (1892),
 +
recognizes some 2,700 species. It is the too prevailing tendency in this work (1) to fail to
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recognize many valid species which have been described by German and French botanists, and
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(2) to mass under one name very diverse groups of species from distant quarters of the world
 +
from 8 to 10 species not infrequently appearing as a single so-called "variable species."
 +
The most recent book dealing with the whole order of ferns, the Index Filicium by Carl
 +
Christensen, recognizes approximately 150 genera and 6,000 species, and this number is
 +
continually increased as the result of further tropical exploration and more careful study.
 +
New forms are constantly coming in from the less-explored parts of the world, and within the
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last few years several new species have been described from the United States, including
 +
some from the better-known parts. Of this number some 200 species are in occasional
 +
cultivation in America, but the species that form the bulk of the fern trade do not exceed
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two dozen. In Europe several hundred species have long been in cultivation. Most of the
 +
species thrive best in the mountain regions of the tropics, the mountains of Jamaica and
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Java having nearly 600 species each, and the Andes also a large number. About 165 species
 +
are native in the temperate United States, representing some thirty-five genera; our native
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species are so widely distributed that usually not more than twenty-five to fifty will be
 +
found within the limits of one state, and the common species of the best locality do not
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number more than twenty. Recent explorations in southern Florida have discovered in that
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state the presence of a considerable number of West Indian species not found elsewhere in
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the United States.
  
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A fern is a [[vascular plant]] that differs from the more primitive [[lycophyte]]s in having true [[leaf|leaves]] (megaphylls), and from the more advanced [[seed plant]]s ([[gymnosperm]]s and [[angiosperm]]s) in lacking [[seed]]s. Like all vascular plants, it has a [[biological life cycle|life cycle]], often referred to as [[alternation of generations]], characterised by a [[diploid]] [[sporophyte|sporophytic]] and a [[haploid]] [[gametophyte|gametophytic]] phase. Unlike the gymnosperms and angiosperms, in ferns the gametophyte is a free-living organism. The life cycle of a typical fern is as follows:
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The ferns are commonly classified as part of a group of spore-bearing plants, with vascular  
 +
(woody) tissue in stem and leaves; this group is technically known as the Pteridophytes, and  
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is ordinarily divided into three orders; viz., the Equisetales, including the horsetails'
 +
and scouring rushes; the Lycopodiales, including the selaginellas and the club mosses, or
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ground pines; and the Filicales, including the true ferns and their nearer allies. The  
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Lycopodiales and Equi- setales are really not as closely related to ferns as this grouping
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would indicate.
  
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# A [[sporophyte]] ([[diploid]]) phase produces [[haploid]] [[spore]]s by [[meiosis]];
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It should be noted that neither the family nor the generic limitations are in a settled
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# A spore grows by cell division into a [[gametophyte]], which typically consists of a photosynthetic [[prothallus]]
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condition. The researches of Bower, Lang, Jeffrey, and others have resulted in some changes
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# The gametophyte produces [[gametes]] (often both [[sperm]] and [[Ovum|egg]]s on the same prothallus) by [[mitosis]]
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of classification which are not included below because they are not complete enough. Their
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# A mobile, [[flagellum|flagellate]] sperm fertilizes an egg that remains attached to the prothallus
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conclusions are undoubtedly correct but are not at present usable.
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# The fertilized egg is now a diploid [[zygote]] and grows by mitosis into a sporophyte (the typical "fern" plant).
 
  
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==Fern ecology==
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The families of the order Filicales may be distinguished as follows:
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Ferns have a popular image of growing in moist, shady woodland nooks, but the reality is far more complex.  Ferns grow in a wide variety of [[habitat]]s, ranging from remote [[mountain]] elevations to dry [[desert]] rock faces to bodies of water to open fields.  Ferns in general may be thought of as largely being specialists in marginal habitats, often succeeding in places where various environmental delimiters limit the success of [[flowering plant]]s.  On the other hand, some ferns are among the world's most serious weed species, such as the [[bracken]] growing in the British highlands, or the mosquito fern (''[[Azolla]]'') growing in tropical lakes.  There are four particular types of habitats that are often key places to find ferns: the afore-mentioned moist, shady [[forest]] cove; the sheltered rock face, especially when sheltered from the full sun; acid [[bog]]s and [[swamp]]s; and tropical [[tree]]s, where many species are [[epiphyte]]s.
 
  
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Many ferns depend on associations with [[mycorrhizal]] fungi. Many ferns only grow within specific pH ranges; for instance, the climbing fern  (''[[Lygodium]]'') of eastern [[North America]] will only grow in moist, intensely [[acid]] soils, while the bulblet bladder fern (''[[Cystopteris]] bulbifera'') with overlapping range is only ever found on [[limestone]]
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1. Ophioglossaceae. Adder's-Tongue Ferns. Herbaceous small ferns with the sporangia borne in spikes or panicles on highly modified divisions of the large fleshy foliage lvs.; prothallium tuberous, subterranean, without chlorophyll.
  
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== Fern structure ==
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2. Marattiaceae. Coarse ferns with large fleshy sporangia on the under surface of the lf., arranged in circular or boat-shaped receptacles; prothallium above ground, green.
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[[Image:Ferns at melb botanical gardens.jpg|thumb|Ferns at the Royal Melbourne Botanical Gardens]]
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[[Image:Ferns02.jpg|thumb|Tree ferns, probably ''Dicksonia antarctica'']]
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3. Hymenophyllaceae. Filmy ferns. Sporangia attached to a thread-like receptacle arising in a cup at the end of the lf.: ring complete, horizontal or oblique.
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Like the sporophytes of seed plants, those of ferns consist of:
 
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* [[Plant stem|Stems]]: Most often an underground creeping [[rhizome]], but sometimes an above-ground creeping [[stolon]] (e.g., [[Polypodiaceae]]), or an above-ground erect semi-woody trunk (e.g., [[Cyatheaceae]]) reaching up to 20 m in a few species (e.g., ''Cyathea brownii'' on [[Norfolk Island]] and ''Cyathea medullaris'' in [[New Zealand]]).
 
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* [[Leaf]]: The [[green]], [[photosynthesis|photosynthetic]] part of the plant. In ferns, it is often referred to as a [[frond]], but this is because of the historical division between people who study ferns and people who study seed plants, rather than because of differences in structure.  New leaves typically expand by the unrolling of a tight spiral called a crozier or [[fiddlehead]]. This uncurling of the leaf is termed [[circinate vernation]]. Leaves are divided into two types:
 
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** Trophophyll: A leaf that does not produce spores, instead only producing sugars by photosynthesis. Analogous to the typical green leaves of seed plants.
 
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** [[Sporophyll]]:  A leaf that produces spores.  These leaves are analogous to the scales of pine cones or to stamens and pistil in gymnosperms and angiosperms, respectively. Unlike the seed plants, however, the sporophylls of ferns are typically not very specialized, looking similar to trophophylls and producing sugars by photosynthesis as the trophophylls do.
 
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* [[Root]]s:  The underground non-photosynthetic structures that take up water and nutrients from soil.  They are always [[fibrous root system|fibrous]] and are structurally very similar to the roots of seed plants.
 
  
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The gametophytes of ferns, however, are very different from those of seed plants. They typically consist of:
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4. Osmundaceae. Flowering ferns. Coarse swamp ferns developing copious green spores early in the season: sporangia in panicles at the apex or middle of the lf. or on separate lvs.
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* Prothallus: A green, photosynthetic structure that is one cell thick, usually heart- or kidney-shaped, 3-10 mm long and 2-8 mm broad. The thallus produces gametes by means of:
 
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** [[antheridium|Antheridia]]:  Small spherical structures that produce [[flagellum|flagellate]] sperm.
 
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** [[archegonium|Archegonia]]: A flask-shaped structure that produces a single egg at the bottom, reached by the sperm by swimming down the neck.
 
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* [[Rhizoid]]s: [[root]]-like structures (not true roots) that consist of single greatly-elongated cells, water and mineral salts are absorbed over the whole structure. Rhizoids anchor the prothallus to the soil.
 
  
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==Evolution and classification==
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5. Schizaeaceae. Upright or climbing ferns with ovate sporangia, which open vertically.
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Ferns first appear in the fossil record in the early-[[Carboniferous]] period. By the [[Triassic]], the first evidence of ferns related to several modern families appeared. The "great fern radiation" occurred in the late-[[Cretaceous]], when many modern families of ferns first appeared.  
 
  
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Ferns have traditionally been grouped in the Class Filices, but modern classifications assign them their own division in the plant kingdom, called Pteridophyta.
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6. Gleicheniaceae. Terrestrial ferns with lvs. of firm texture and usually of indeterminate growth: sporangia opening vertically, in clusters of 3-6.
  
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Traditionally, three discrete groups of plants have been considered ferns:  two groups of eusporangiate ferns--families [[Ophioglossaceae]] ([[Ophioglossum|adders-tongues]], [[moonwort]]s, and [[grape-fern]]s) and [[Marattiaceae]]--and the [[sporangium|leptosporangiate]] ferns. The Marattiaceae are a primitive group of tropical ferns with a large, fleshy rhizome, and are now thought to be a sibling taxon to the main group of ferns, the leptosporangiate ferns.  Several other groups of plants were considered "[[fern ally|fern allies]]": the [[clubmoss]]es, [[spikemoss]]es, and [[quillwort]]s in the [[Lycopodiophyta]], the [[whisk fern]]s in [[Psilotaceae]], and the [[horsetail]]s in the [[Equisetaceae]]. More recent genetic studies have shown that the Lycopodiophyta are only distantly related to any other [[vascular plant]]s, having radiated evolutionarily at the base of the vascular plant [[clade]], while both the whisk ferns and horsetails are as much "true" ferns as are the Ophioglossoids and Marattiaceae.  In fact, the whisk ferns and Ophioglossoids are demonstrably a clade, and the horsetails and Marattiaceae are arguably another clade.
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7. Ceratopteridaceae. Aquatic ferns with succulent foliage: sporangia very large, scattered, with a broad ring: lvs. of 2 sorts, the sterile usually floating.
  
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One possible means of treating this situation is to consider only the leptosporangiate ferns as "true" ferns, while considering the other three groups as "fe
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8. Cyatheaceae. Mostly tree ferns with sessile or short-stalked sporangia in conspicuous receptacles, opening obliquely.
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rn allies". In practice, numerous classification schemes have been proposed for ferns and fern allies, and there has been little consensus among them. A new classification by Smith et al. (2006) is based on recent molecular systematic studies, in addition to morphological data. This classification divides ferns into four classes:
 
  
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*Psilotopsida
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9. Polypodiaceae. Ferns with stalked sporangia, which burst transversely: sori covered with a membranous indusium or sometimes naked. This family contains three-fourths of all the ferns.
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*Equisetopsida
 
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*Marattiopsida
 
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*Polypodiopsida
 
  
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The last group includes most plants familiarly known as ferns. Modern research supports older ideas based on morphology that the Osmundaceae diverged early in the evolutionary history of the leptosporangiate ferns; in certain ways this family is intermediate between the eusporangiate ferns and the leptosporangiate ferns.
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10. Marsiliaceae. Small plants rooting in mud, the lvs. either quadrifoliate or reduced to mere filamentous petioles: sporangia borne in oval conceptacles on the leaf-stalks. Often aquatic, with the leaves floating on the surface of water in pools or lakes.
  
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A more complete classification scheme (with alternative names in brackets) follows:
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11. Salviniaceae. Small or minute plants with the aspect of liverworts, floating on the surface of pools: sporangia in mostly spherical conceptacles.
  
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*Class [[Psilotopsida]]
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The literature on the ferns is very extensive, since they have ever been attractive plants in cultivation.
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**Order [[Ophioglossales]]
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{{SCH}}
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***Family [[Ophioglossaceae]] (incl. [[Botrychiaceae]], [[Helminthostachyaceae]])
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}}
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**Order [[Psilotales]]
 
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***Family [[Psilotaceae]] (incl. [[Tmesipteridaceae]])
 
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*Class [[Equisetopsida]] [=Sphenopsida]
 
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**Order [[Equisetales]]
 
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***Family [[Equisetaceae]]
 
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*Class [[Marattiopsida]]
 
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**Order [[Marattiales]]
 
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***Family [[Marattiaceae]] (incl. [[Angiopteridaceae]], [[Christenseniaceae]], [[Danaeaceae]], [[Kaulfussiaceae]])
 
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*Class [[Polypodiopsida]] [=Filicopsida]
 
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**Order [[Osmundales]]
 
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***Family [[Osmundaceae]]
 
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**Order [[Hymenophyllales]]
 
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***Family [[Hymenophyllaceae]] (incl. [[Trichomanaceae]])
 
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**Order [[Gleicheniales]]
 
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***Family [[Gleicheniaceae]] (incl. [[Dicranopteridaceae]], [[Stromatopteridaceae]])
 
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***Family [[Dipteridaceae]] (incl. [[Cheiropleuriaceae]])
 
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***Family [[Matoniaceae]]
 
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**Order [[Schizaeales]]
 
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***Family [[Lygodiaceae]]
 
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***Family [[Anemiaceae]] (incl. [[Mohriaceae]])
 
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***Family [[Schizaeaceae]]
 
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**Order [[Salviniales]]
 
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***Family [[Marsileaceae]] (incl. [[Pilulariaceae]])
 
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***Family [[Salviniaceae]] (incl. [[Azollaceae]])
 
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**Order [[Cyatheales]]
 
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***Family [[Thyrsopteridaceae]]
 
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***Family [[Loxomataceae]]
 
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***Family [[Culcitaceae]]
 
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***Family [[Plagiogyriaceae]]
 
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***Family [[Cibotiaceae]]
 
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***Family [[Cyatheaceae]] (incl. [[Alsophilaceae]], [[Hymenophyllopsidaceae]])
 
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***Family [[Dicksoniaceae]] (incl. [[Lophosoriaceae]])
 
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***Family [[Metaxyaceae]]
 
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**Order [[Polypodiales]]
 
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***Family [[Lindsaeaceae]] (incl. [[Cystodiaceae]], [[Lonchitidaceae]])
 
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***Family [[Saccolomataceae]]
 
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***Family [[Dennstaedtiaceae]] (incl. [[Hypolepidaceae]], [[Monachosoraceae]], [[Pteridiaceae]])
 
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***Family [[Pteridaceae]] (incl. [[Acrostichaceae]], [[Actiniopteridaceae]], [[Adiantaceae]], [[Anopteraceae]], [[Antrophyaceae]], [[Ceratopteridaceae]], [[Cheilanthaceae]], [[Cryptogrammaceae]], [[Hemionitidaceae]], [[Negripteridaceae]], [[Parkeriaceae]], [[Platyzomataceae]], [[Sinopteridaceae]], [[Taenitidaceae]], [[Vittariaceae]])
 
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***Family [[Aspleniaceae]]
 
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***Family [[Thelypteridaceae]]
 
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***Family [[Woodsiaceae]] (incl. [[Athyriaceae]], [[Cystopteridaceae]])
 
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***Family [[Blechnaceae]] (incl. [[Stenochlaenaceae]])
 
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***Family [[Onocleaceae]]
 
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***Family [[Dryopteridaceae]] (incl. [[Aspidiaceae]], [[Bolbitidaceae]], [[Elaphoglossaceae]], [[Hypodematiaceae]], [[Peranemataceae]])
 
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***Family [[Lomariopsidaceae]] (incl. [[Nephrolepidaceae]])
 
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***Family [[Tectariaceae]]
 
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***Family [[Oleandraceae]]
 
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***Family [[Davalliaceae]]
 
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***Family [[Polypodiaceae]] (incl. [[Drynariaceae]], [[Grammitidaceae]], [[Gymnogrammitidaceae]], [[Loxogrammaceae]], [[Platyceriaceae]], [[Pleurisoriopsidaceae]])
 
  
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==Economic uses==
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Technical definition of a fern, from Wikipedia{{wp}}: "A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta. The group is also referred to as Polypodiophyta, or Polypodiopsida when treated as a subdivision of tracheophyta (vascular plants). The term "pteridophyte" has traditionally been used to describe all seedless vascular plants, making it synonymous with "ferns and fern allies". This can be confusing since members of the fern phylum Pteridophyta are also sometimes referred to as pteridophytes."
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Ferns are not as important economically as seed plants but have considerable importance. Ferns of the genus ''[[mosquito fern|Azolla]]'' are very small, floating plants that do not look like ferns. Called [[mosquito fern]], they are used as a biological fertilizer in the rice paddies of southeast Asia, taking advantage of their ability to [[nitrogen fixation|fix nitrogen]] from the air into compounds that can then be used by other plants. A great many ferns are grown in [[horticulture]] as landscape plants, for [[greenery|cut foliage]] and as [[houseplant]]s, especially the [[Boston fern]] (''Nephrolepis exaltata''). Several ferns are noxio
 
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us [[weed]]s or [[invasive species]], including Japanese climbing fern (''[[Lygodium]] japonicum''), mosquito fern and [[sensitive fern]] (''Onoclea sensibilis''). Giant water fern (''[[Salvinia molesta]]'') is one of the world's worst aquatic weeds. The important fossil fuel [[coal]] consists of the remains of primitive plants, including ferns.
 
  
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Other ferns with some economic significance include:
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==Cultivation==
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*''[[Dryopteris filix-mas]]'' (male fern), used as a [[vermifuge]]
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{{edit-cult}}<!--- Type cultivation info below this line, then delete this entire line -->
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*''[[Rumohra adiantoides]]'' (floral fern), extensively used in the [[floristry|florist]] trade
 
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*''[[Osmunda|Osmunda regalis]]'' (royal fern) and ''[[Osmunda|Osmunda cinnamomea]]'' (cinnamon fern), the root fiber being used horticulturally; the fiddleheads of ''O. cinnamomea'' are also used as a cooked vegetable
 
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*''[[Matteuccia struthiopteris]]'' (ostrich fern), the fiddleheads used as a cooked vegetable in North America
 
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*''[[Pteridium aquilinum]]'' (bracken), the fiddleheads used as a cooked vegetable in Japan and are believed to be responsible for the high rate of stomach cancer in Japan
 
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*''[[Diplazium esculentum]]'' (vegetable fern), a source of food for some native societies
 
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*''[[Pteris|Pteris vittata]]'' (brake fern), used to absorb [[arsenic]] from the soil
 
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*''Polypodium glycyrrhiza''  (licorice fern), roots chewed for their pleasant flavor
 
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*[[Tree fern]]s, used as building material in some tropical areas
 
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*[[Bracken]] fern, often poisons cattle and horses
 
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*''[[Cyathea cooperi]]'' (Australian tree fern), an important invasive species in Hawaii
 
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*''[[Dryopteris filix-mas]]'', this fern accidentally sprouting in a bottle resulted in Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward's 1829 invention of the terrarium or [[Wardian case]]
 
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*[[Parkeriaceae|''Ceratopteris'']] ''richardii'', a model plant for teaching and research, often called C-fern
 
  
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==Cultural connotations==
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===Propagation===
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In [[Slavic folklore]], ferns are believed to bloom once a year, during the [[Ivan Kupala]] night. Although it's exceedingly difficult to find, anyone who takes a look of a fern-flower will be happy and rich for the rest of his life. Similarly in [[Finland]], the tradition holds that one who finds the [[seed]] of a fern in bloom on [[Midsummer]] night, will by the possession of it be able to travel under a glamour of invisibility and shall be guided to the locations where eternally blazing [[Will o' the wisp]]s mark the spot of hidden [[treasure]] caches.
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{{edit-prop}}<!--- Type propagation info below this line, then delete this entire line -->
  
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==Misunderstood names==
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===Pests and diseases===
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Several non-fern plants are called "ferns" and are sometimes popularly believed to be ferns in error.  These include:
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{{edit-pests}}<!--- Type pest/disease info below this line, then delete this entire line -->
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*"Asparagus fern" - This may apply to one of several species of the [[monocotyledon|monocot]] genus ''[[Asparagus]]'', which are flowering plants.  A better name would be "fern asparagus".
 
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*"Sweetfern" - This is a shrub of the genus ''[[Comptonia]]''.
 
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*"[[Air fern]]" - This is an unrelated aquatic animal that is related to a coral; it is harvested, dried, dyed green, then sold as plant that can "live on air". It looks like a fern but is actually a skeleton.
 
  
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In addition, the book ''[[Where the Red Fern Grows]]'' has elicited many questions about the mythical "red fern" named in the book. There is no such known plant, although there has been speculation that the Oblique grape-fern, ''[[Sceptridium|Sceptridium dissectum]]'', could be referred to here, because it is known to appear on disturbed sites and its fronds may redden over the winter.
+
==Species==
 +
<!-- This section should be renamed Cultivars if it appears on a page for a species (rather than genus), or perhaps Varieties if there is a mix of cultivars, species, hybrids, etc    -->
  
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== Gallery ==
+
==Gallery==
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{{Commonscat|Pteridophyta}}
 
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
 
Image:Fern.jpg|Fern leaf, probably ''Blechnum nudum''
 
Image:Fern.jpg|Fern leaf, probably ''Blechnum nudum''
Line 165: Line 141:
 
[[Sequoia|Coast Redwood]] undergrowth setting [[Santa Cruz, CA]].
 
[[Sequoia|Coast Redwood]] undergrowth setting [[Santa Cruz, CA]].
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
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{{-}}
 
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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* Pryer, Kathleen M., Harald Schneider, Alan R. Smith, Raymond Cranfill, Paul G. Wolf, Jeffrey S. Hunt and Sedonia D. Sipes. 2001. Horsetails and ferns are a monophyletic group and the closest living relatives to seed plants. ''Nature'' 409: 618-622 (abstract [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v409/n6820/abs/409618a0.html here]).
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*[[Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture]], by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
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* Pryer, Kathleen M., Eric Schuettpelz, Paul G. Wolf, Harald Schneider, Alan R. Smith and Raymond Cranfill. 2004. Phylogeny and evolution of ferns (monilophytes) with a focus on the early leptosporangiate divergences. ''American Journal of Botany'' 91:1582-1598 (online abstract [http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/abstract/91/10/1582 here]).
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<!--- xxxxx  *Flora: The Gardener's Bible, by Sean Hogan. Global Book Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0881925381  -->
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* Moran, Robbin C. (2004). ''A Natural History of Ferns''. Portland, OR: Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-667-1.
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<!--- xxxxx  *American Horticultural Society: A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, by Christopher Brickell, Judith D. Zuk. 1996. ISBN 0789419432  -->
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* Lord, Thomas R. (2006). ''Ferns and Fern Allies of Pennsylvania''. Indiana, PA: Pinelands Press. [http://www.paferns.com]
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<!--- xxxxx  *Sunset National Garden Book. Sunset Books, Inc., 1997. ISBN 0376038608  -->
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* Smith, A. R., K. M. Pryer, E. Schuettpelz, P. Korall, H. Schneider & P. G. Wolf. 2006. A classification for extant ferns. ''Taxon'' 55(3):705–731.
 
  
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==See also==
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==External links==
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* [[Fern spike]]
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*{{wplink}}
  
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==External links==
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{{stub}}
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* [http://ontarioferns.com Ontario Ferns]
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[[Category:Categorize]]
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* [http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Filicopsida&contgroup=Embryophytes Tree of Life Web Project: Filicopsida]
 
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* A classification of the [http://www.anbg.gov.au/fern/taxa/classification.html ferns and their allies]
 
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* [http://www.jaknouse.athens.oh.us/ferns/bookfern.html A fern book bibliography]
 
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* [http://www1.akira.ne.jp/~unzen/pteridophyta.html Register of fossil Pteridophyta]
 
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* [http://delta-intkey.com/britfe/ L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (2004 onwards). The Ferns (Filicopsida) of the British Isles.]
 
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* [http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/pages/non-seed-plants.htm Non-seed plant images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu]
 
  
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[[Category:Pteridophyta| ]]
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[[Category:Botany]]
 
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[[Category:Gardening]]
 
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[[Category:Horticulture]]
 

Latest revision as of 02:10, 23 June 2010


Polystichum setiferum showing unrolling young frond


Plant Characteristics
Habit   fern

Lifespan: ⌛ perennial
Cultivation
Exposure: ☼ part-sun, shade
Water: ◍ moist, moderate
Features: ✓ foliage
Scientific Names



Read about Fern in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture 
Ferns at the Royal Melbourne Botanical Gardens
Tree ferns, probably Dicksonia antarctica

Ferns. The plants included under this name comprise an entire order, made up of several distinct families. They include plants varying in size from a hair- like creeping stem bearing a few simple, moss-like leaves, to tall trees 80 or more feet in height, with a stem or trunk nearly a foot in diameter. Singularly enough, the extremes in size are both found in tropical regions, in which most of the species abound. Most of the ordinary native species, as well as the larger part of those in cultivation, consist of an erect underground stem or rootstock with leaves, often called fronds, clustered in dense crowns, or in the cases of creeping stems with scattered leaves. In gardening parlance, other plants are sometimes called ferns, as species of lycopodium and selaginella, as well as oa em Asparagus plumosus.

In the life of an individual fern plant, two distinct phases occur, represented by two separate and unlike plants. The ordinary fern plant represents the asexual phase of growth (sporophyte), producing its spores normally in spore-cases, which are borne in masses on the back or margin of the leaf, or in. a few cases are grouped in spikes or panicles, or in rare cases spread in a layer over the entire under surface of the leaf. The sexual stage (gamelophyte) develops from the germinating spore, and consists of a tiny usually scale-like green heart- shaped prothallus, which bears the sex- organs (archegonia, female, and antheridia, male) on the under surface. After fertilization in the archegonium, the egg develops directly into a young fern plant. Many ferns also propagate vegetatively by runners or offsets, by bulblet-like buds, and in certain species the tips of the leaves bend over and take root, as in our common walking-leaf (Camptosorus, which see).

Ferns frequently hybridize. The crossing takes place naturally in the prothallium stage. They are not crossed by hand, as are the seed-plants, but from the accidental mixing when prothallia of allied species are growing together. It is a hybrid between two native species; it has been found in the wild in several parts of New England.

Great diversity has existed in the matter of the separation of the ferns into genera. Hooker, relying mainly on artificial characters drawn largely from the sorus, recognized about seventy genera only, many of them heterogeneous groups of plants with little resemblance in structure, habit or natural affinities. John Smith, relying on stem characters, Presl on variation in venation and habit,Fee, Moore,and others, have recognized a much greater number of genera, ranging from 150 to 250, or even more. In the very unequal treatment by Diels in Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien (Engler & Prantl), some 120 genera are recognized. A somewhat similar difference prevails in regard to the number of species. The Synopsis Filicum of Hooker and Baker (1874), supplemented by Baker's New Ferns (1892), recognizes some 2,700 species. It is the too prevailing tendency in this work (1) to fail to recognize many valid species which have been described by German and French botanists, and (2) to mass under one name very diverse groups of species from distant quarters of the world from 8 to 10 species not infrequently appearing as a single so-called "variable species." The most recent book dealing with the whole order of ferns, the Index Filicium by Carl Christensen, recognizes approximately 150 genera and 6,000 species, and this number is continually increased as the result of further tropical exploration and more careful study. New forms are constantly coming in from the less-explored parts of the world, and within the last few years several new species have been described from the United States, including some from the better-known parts. Of this number some 200 species are in occasional cultivation in America, but the species that form the bulk of the fern trade do not exceed two dozen. In Europe several hundred species have long been in cultivation. Most of the species thrive best in the mountain regions of the tropics, the mountains of Jamaica and Java having nearly 600 species each, and the Andes also a large number. About 165 species are native in the temperate United States, representing some thirty-five genera; our native species are so widely distributed that usually not more than twenty-five to fifty will be found within the limits of one state, and the common species of the best locality do not number more than twenty. Recent explorations in southern Florida have discovered in that state the presence of a considerable number of West Indian species not found elsewhere in the United States.

The ferns are commonly classified as part of a group of spore-bearing plants, with vascular (woody) tissue in stem and leaves; this group is technically known as the Pteridophytes, and is ordinarily divided into three orders; viz., the Equisetales, including the horsetails' and scouring rushes; the Lycopodiales, including the selaginellas and the club mosses, or ground pines; and the Filicales, including the true ferns and their nearer allies. The Lycopodiales and Equi- setales are really not as closely related to ferns as this grouping would indicate.

It should be noted that neither the family nor the generic limitations are in a settled condition. The researches of Bower, Lang, Jeffrey, and others have resulted in some changes of classification which are not included below because they are not complete enough. Their conclusions are undoubtedly correct but are not at present usable.

The families of the order Filicales may be distinguished as follows:

1. Ophioglossaceae. Adder's-Tongue Ferns. Herbaceous small ferns with the sporangia borne in spikes or panicles on highly modified divisions of the large fleshy foliage lvs.; prothallium tuberous, subterranean, without chlorophyll.

2. Marattiaceae. Coarse ferns with large fleshy sporangia on the under surface of the lf., arranged in circular or boat-shaped receptacles; prothallium above ground, green.

3. Hymenophyllaceae. Filmy ferns. Sporangia attached to a thread-like receptacle arising in a cup at the end of the lf.: ring complete, horizontal or oblique.

4. Osmundaceae. Flowering ferns. Coarse swamp ferns developing copious green spores early in the season: sporangia in panicles at the apex or middle of the lf. or on separate lvs.

5. Schizaeaceae. Upright or climbing ferns with ovate sporangia, which open vertically.

6. Gleicheniaceae. Terrestrial ferns with lvs. of firm texture and usually of indeterminate growth: sporangia opening vertically, in clusters of 3-6.

7. Ceratopteridaceae. Aquatic ferns with succulent foliage: sporangia very large, scattered, with a broad ring: lvs. of 2 sorts, the sterile usually floating.

8. Cyatheaceae. Mostly tree ferns with sessile or short-stalked sporangia in conspicuous receptacles, opening obliquely.

9. Polypodiaceae. Ferns with stalked sporangia, which burst transversely: sori covered with a membranous indusium or sometimes naked. This family contains three-fourths of all the ferns.

10. Marsiliaceae. Small plants rooting in mud, the lvs. either quadrifoliate or reduced to mere filamentous petioles: sporangia borne in oval conceptacles on the leaf-stalks. Often aquatic, with the leaves floating on the surface of water in pools or lakes.

11. Salviniaceae. Small or minute plants with the aspect of liverworts, floating on the surface of pools: sporangia in mostly spherical conceptacles.

The literature on the ferns is very extensive, since they have ever been attractive plants in cultivation. CH


The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.


Technical definition of a fern, from Wikipediawp: "A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta. The group is also referred to as Polypodiophyta, or Polypodiopsida when treated as a subdivision of tracheophyta (vascular plants). The term "pteridophyte" has traditionally been used to describe all seedless vascular plants, making it synonymous with "ferns and fern allies". This can be confusing since members of the fern phylum Pteridophyta are also sometimes referred to as pteridophytes."

Cultivation

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Propagation

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Pests and diseases

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Species

Gallery

  • Fern leaf, probably Blechnum nudum

  • A tree fern unrolling a new frond

  • Tree fern, probably Dicksonia antarctica

  • Tree ferns, probably Dicksonia antarctica

  • "Filicinae" from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904

  • Unidentified tree fern in Oaxaca

  • Tree Fern Spores San Diego, CA

  • Leaf of fern

  • Unidentified fern with spores showing in Rotorua, NZ.

  • Ferns in a natural

References

External links


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