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Fern
A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except the lycopods, and differ from mosses and other bryophytes by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissues that conduct water and nutrients and in having life cycles in which the branched sporophyte is the dominant phase. Ferns have complex leaves called megaphylls, that are more complex than the microphylls of clubmosses. Most ferns are leptosporangiate ferns. They produce coiled fiddleheads that uncoil and expand into fronds. The group includes about 10,560 known extant species. Ferns are defined here in the broad sense, being all of the Polypodiopsida, comprising both the leptosporangiate ( Polypodiidae) and eusporangiate ferns, the latter group including horsetails, whisk ferns, marattioid ferns, and ophioglossoid fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polypodiopsida
A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except the lycopods, and differ from mosses and other bryophytes by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissues that conduct water and nutrients and in having life cycles in which the branched sporophyte is the dominant phase. Ferns have complex leaves called megaphylls, that are more complex than the microphylls of clubmosses. Most ferns are leptosporangiate ferns. They produce coiled fiddleheads that uncoil and expand into fronds. The group includes about 10,560 known extant species. Ferns are defined here in the broad sense, being all of the Polypodiopsida, comprising both the leptosporangiate ( Polypodiidae) and eusporangiate ferns, the latter group including horsetails, whisk ferns, marattioid ferns, and ophioglossoid ferns ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polypodiidae (plant)
The Polypodiidae, commonly called leptosporangiate ferns, formerly Leptosporangiatae, are one of four subclasses of ferns, and the largest of these, being the largest group of living ferns, including some 11,000 species worldwide. The group has also been treated as the class Pteridopsida or Polypodiopsida, although other classifications assign them a different rank. Older names for the group include Filicidae and Filicales, although at least the "water ferns" (now the Salviniales) were then treated separately. The leptosporangiate ferns are one of the four major groups of ferns, with the other three being the eusporangiate ferns comprising the marattioid ferns (Marattiidae, Marattiaceae), the horsetails (Equisetiidae, Equisetaceae), and whisk ferns and moonworts. There are approximately 8465 species of living leptosporangiate ferns, compared with about 2070 for all other ferns, totalling 10535 species of ferns. Almost a third of leptosporangiate fern species are epiphytes. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pteridophyte
A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that disperses spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as " cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden. Ferns, horsetails (often treated as ferns), and lycophytes ( clubmosses, spikemosses, and quillworts) are all pteridophytes. However, they do not form a monophyletic group because ferns (and horsetails) are more closely related to seed plants than to lycophytes. "Pteridophyta" is thus no longer a widely accepted taxon, but the term ''pteridophyte'' remains in common parlance, as do ''pteridology'' and ''pteridologist'' as a science and its practitioner, respectively. Ferns and lycophytes share a life cycle and are often collectively treated or studied, for example by the International Association of Pteridologists and the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group. Description Pteridophytes (ferns and lycophytes) are free-sporing vascular plants that have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eusporangiate Fern
Eusporangiate ferns are vascular spore plants, whose sporangia arise from several epidermal cells and not from a single cell as in leptosporangiate ferns. Typically these ferns have reduced root systems and sporangia that produce large amounts of spores (up to 7000 spores per sporangium in '' Christensenia'') There are four extant eusporangiate fern families, distributed among three classes. Each family is assigned to its own order. *Class Psilotopsida **Order Psilotales, family Psilotaceae – Whisk ferns (2 genera, about 17 species) **Order Ophioglossales, family Ophioglossaceae – Adder's-tongues (5 genera, about 80 species) *Class Equisetopsida **Order Equisetales, family Equisetaceae – Horsetails (1 genus, about 15 species) *Class Marattiopsida **Order Marattiales, family Marattiaceae – Marattoid ferns (6 genera, about 500 species) The following diagram shows a likely phylogenic placement of eusporangiate fern classes within the vascular plants. Cladistic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiddlehead Fern
Fiddleheads or fiddlehead greens are the furled fronds of a young fern, harvested for use as a vegetable. Left on the plant, each fiddlehead would unroll into a new frond ( circinate vernation). As fiddleheads are harvested early in the season before the frond has opened and reached its full height, they are cut fairly close to the ground. Fiddleheads contain a compound associated with bracken toxicity. The fiddlehead resembles the curled ornamentation (called a ''scroll'') on the end of a stringed instrument, such as a fiddle. It is also called a crozier, after the curved staff used by bishops, which has its origins in the shepherd's crook. Varieties The fiddleheads of certain ferns are eaten as a cooked leaf vegetable. The most popular of these are: * Bracken, ''Pteridium aquilinum'', found worldwide (Toxic if not cooked fully) * Ostrich fern, ''Matteuccia struthiopteris'', found in northern regions worldwide, and the central/eastern part of North America '' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frond
A frond is a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group. Other botanists allow the term frond to also apply to the large leaves of cycads, as well as palms (Arecaceae) and various other flowering plants, such as mimosa or sumac. "Frond" is commonly used to identify a large, compound leaf, but if the term is used botanically to refer to the leaves of ferns and algae it may be applied to smaller and undivided leaves. Fronds have particular terms describing their components. Like all leaves, fronds usually have a stalk connecting them to the main stem. In botany, this leaf stalk is generally called a Petiole (botany), petiole, but in regard to fronds specifically it is called a Stipe (botany), stipe, and it supports a flattened blade (which may be called a lamina), and the continuation of the stipe into this portion is called the rachis. The blades may be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marattiidae
Marattiaceae is the only family of extant (living) ferns in the order Marattiales. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), Marattiales is the only order in the subclass Marattiidae. The family has six genera and about 110 species. Many are different in appearance from other ferns, having large fronds and fleshy rootstocks. Description The Marattiaceae diverged from other ferns very early in their evolutionary history and are quite different from many plants familiar to people in temperate zones. Many of them have massive, fleshy rootstocks and the largest known fronds of any fern. The Marattiaceae is one of two groups of ferns traditionally known as eusporangiate ferns, meaning that the sporangium is formed from a group of cells as opposed to a leptosporangium in which there is a single initial cell. The large fronds characteristic of the group are most readily found in the genus ''Angiopteris'', native to Australasia, Madagascar and Oceania. These f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ophioglossidae
Ophioglossidae is one of the four subclasses of Polypodiopsida (ferns). This subclass consists of the ferns commonly known as whisk ferns, grape ferns, adder's-tongues and moonworts. It is equivalent to the class Psilotopsida in previous treatments, including Smith ''et al.'' (2006). The subclass contains two orders, Psilotales and Ophioglossales, whose relationship was only confirmed by molecular phylogenetic studies. Taxonomy Smith et al. (2006) carried out the first higher-level pteridophyte classification published in the molecular phylogenetic era, and considered the ferns (monilophytes), with four classes. They placed the whisk ferns and related taxa in the class Psilotopsida, with two orders. Mark W. Chase and James L. Reveal (2009) classified them as two separate subclasses, Psilotidae and Ophioglossidae, corresponding to those orders within a much broader grouping, the class Equisetopsida ''sensu lato''. Christenhusz ''et al.'', 2011, included both the Ophioglos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ophioglossoid Fern
Ophioglossaceae, the adder's-tongue family, is a small family of ferns. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), it is the only family in the order Ophioglossales, which together with the Psilotales is placed in the subclass Ophioglossidae. The Ophioglossidae are one of the groups traditionally known as eusporangiate ferns. Members of the family differ from other ferns in a number of ways. Many have only a single fleshy leaf at a time. Their gametophytes are subterranean and rely on fungi for energy. Description Members of Ophioglossaceae are usually terrestrial (excepting a few epiphytic species of ''Ophioglossum'') and occur in both temperate and tropical areas. They differ from the other ferns in several respects: * Many species only send up one frond or leaf-blade per year, producing only a single leaf at a time. The leaves are usually fleshy, and in temperate areas will often turn brownish or reddish during colder months. * Instead of the leptos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
