Fern Lab Ferns have been around for 320 million years, beginning in the Carboniferous period. They belong to an ancient group called Pteridoptera. There are many things that characterize a fern. They have no flowers for reproduction and have a two-phase life cycle containing both sexual and nonsexual reproduction. The nonsexual reproduction uses spores, while the sexual reproduction depends on free water for the transportation of sperm. During nonsexual reproduction, fronds (the central stalks with leaves) uncoil as they grow and have a fiddlehead shape. Spores are produced on the underside of fronds, and their sori (the aggregation they appear in) are used to identify them. About 20% of ferns grow on trees, making them arborescent, and 80% are epiphytic. The decomposition of ferns over millions of years has led to the supplies of coal that we depend on for energy every day. However, throughout the time that it has been on earth, the fern has changed very little. Ferns have been around for longer than we can imagine, and will probably be around long after humans have disappeared. Taxonomic Identifications
|