Fern

/ferrn/, n.

a female given name.

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Any of about 10,000–12,000 species (division Filicophyta) of nonflowering vascular plants that have true roots, stems, and complex leaves and reproduce by spores.

Though ferns were once classified with the primitive horsetails and club mosses, botanists have since made a clear distinction between the scalelike, one-veined leaves of those plants and the more complexly veined fronds of the ferns, which are more closely related to the leaves of seed plants. Ferns come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. Many are small, fragile plants; others are treelike (see tree fern). The life cycle is characterized by an alternation of generations between the mature, fronded form (the sporophyte) familiar in greenhouses and gardens and the form that strongly resembles a moss or liverwort (the gametophyte). Ferns are popular houseplants.

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▪ plant

Introduction

 any of several nonflowering vascular plants that possess true roots, stems, and complex leaves and that reproduce by spores (spore). They belong to the lower vascular plant division Pteridophyta, having leaves usually with branching vein systems; the young leaves usually unroll from a tight fiddlehead, or crozier. The number of fern species is about 9,000, but estimates have ranged to as high as 15,000, the number varying because certain groups are as yet poorly studied and because new species are still being found in unexplored tropical areas. The ferns constitute an ancient division of vascular plants, some of them as old as the Carboniferous Period (beginning 360 million years ago) and perhaps older. Their type of life cycle, dependent upon spores for dispersal, long preceded the seed-plant life cycle. Another informal name for the group, monilophytes, has gained currency in modern botanical literature.

General features

Size range and habitat

      The ferns are extremely diverse in habitat, form, and reproductive methods. In size alone they range from minute filmy plants only 2 to 3 mm (0.08 to 0.12 inch) tall to huge tree ferns 10 to 25 metres (30 to 80 feet) in height. Some are twining vines; others float on the surface of ponds. The majority of ferns inhabit warm, damp areas of the Earth. Growing profusely in tropical areas, ferns diminish in number with increasingly higher latitudes and decreasing supplies of moisture. Few are found in dry, cold places.

 Some ferns play a role in ecological succession, growing from the crevices of bare rock exposures and in open bogs and marshes prior to the advent of forest vegetation. The best-known fern genus over much of the world, Pteridium ( bracken) is characteristically found in old fields or cleared forests, where in most places it is often succeeded by woody vegetation.

Distribution and abundance

      Geographically, ferns are most abundant in the tropics. Arctic and Antarctic regions possess few species. On the other hand, a small tropical country such as Costa Rica may have more than 900 species of ferns—about twice as many as are found in all of North America north of Mexico. The finest display of fern diversity is seen in the tropical rainforests, where in only a few hectares more than 100 species may be encountered, some of which may constitute a dominant element of the vegetation. Also, many of the species grow as epiphytes (epiphyte) upon the trunks and branches of trees. A number of families are almost exclusively tropical (e.g., Marattiaceae, Gleicheniaceae, Schizaeaceae, Cyatheaceae, Blechnaceae, and Davalliaceae). Most of the other families occur in both the tropics and the temperate zones. Only certain genera are primarily temperate and Arctic (e.g., Athyrium, Cystopteris, Dryopteris, and Polystichum), and even these tend to extend into the tropics, being found at high elevations on mountain ranges and volcanoes.

 Ferns as weeds are uncommon, although a few occur. The most notorious is bracken (Pteridium), which spreads quickly by its underground ropelike rhizome, rapidly invading abandoned fields and pastures in both temperate and tropical regions. One species of water spangles (Salvinia auriculata) became a major pest in India, blocking irrigation ditches and rice paddies. Another species (S. molesta) within three years covered 520 square kilometres (200 square miles) of the artificial Lake Kariba (Kariba, Lake) in southern Africa, cutting off light and oxygen and thus killing other plant life and fish. Some fern species have been introduced into tropical or subtropical areas (e.g., southern Florida and Hawaii) and in some cases have become naturalized and have spread into the native forest. Examples include the giant polypody (Microsorum scolopendrium), climbing ferns (Lygodium japonicum and L. microphyllum), green cliff brake (Pellaea viridis), silver fern (Pityrogramma calomelanos), Japanese holly fern (Cyrtomium falcatum), rosy maidenhair (Adiantum hispidulum), Cretan brake (Pteris cretica), and ladder brake (P. vittata). Two Old World species (Cyclosorus dentatus and Macrothelypteris torresiana) were introduced into tropical America beginning about 1930 and now are among the most common species even in some remote areas.

 Because of their ability to disperse by spores and their capacity to produce both sex organs on the same gametophyte and thus to self-fertilize, it would seem logical to assume that ferns possess higher powers of long-distance dispersal and establishment than do seed plants. Although genetic tests have shown that many, if not most, fern species tend to have an outcrossing breeding system, some other species are involved in the case of ferns with remote disjunctions—separated growing regions. There are interisland and intercontinental disjunctions, east and west, as well as wide north-south disjunctions including species found in the Northern and Southern hemispheres that skip the tropics. Some disjunctions seem to follow the pattern of prevailing winds; the main centre of distribution of a species often may lead to downwind groups consisting of one or a few small populations sometimes hundreds or thousands of kilometres away. Examples of species exhibiting west-to-east transcontinental disjunctions in North America are Wright's cliffbrake (Pellaea wrightiana), mountain holly fern (Polystichum scopulinum), and forked spleenwort (Asplenium septentrionale); all of these ferns are well known in the western United States, and they exist as tiny populations in the mountains of the eastern states as well. Some species are disjunct between continents, such as between New Zealand and South America (Blechnum penna-marina and Hypolepis rugosula) or South Africa and Australia and New Zealand (Todea barbara). Some disjunct patterns, such as similar plants growing in Asia and in eastern North America, are not the result of long-range dispersal but rather are the remnants of an ancient continuous flora, the intervening areas having been changed over time.

Importance to humans

      As a group of plants, ferns are not of great economic value. Many different species have been used as a minor food source and for medicine in various parts of the world. Edible fern crosiers (young leaves with coiled hook-shaped tips) are popular in some areas. The ostrich fern (Matteuccia) of northeastern North America is frequently eaten, apparently with no ill effect, but the two ferns most commonly consumed in East Asia (Osmunda and Pteridium) have been shown to be strongly carcinogenic. The minute aquatic mosquito fern (Azolla) has become a valuable plant, especially in Southeast Asia; a blue-green algae (Anabaena azollae) is always found in pockets on the leaves of Azolla and helps convert nitrogen to a form usable by other plants (see nitrogen-fixation (nitrogen fixation)), thus greatly increasing the productivity of rice paddies where the fern occurs. The greatest economic value of ferns has been in horticulture, with large nurseries supplying millions of plants annually for both indoor decoration and outdoor gardens and landscaping. On the negative side, the poisonous bracken (Pteridium aquilinum (bracken)), which often spoils the grazing value of various lands, is considered a noxious weed in many countries.

      A major value of ferns is in biological research, for they have retained a primitive life cycle involving two separate and more or less independent generations, or growth phases, the plants of which are wholly different in many respects. Water ferns (water fern) (genus Ceratopteris), which have relatively short life cycles and for which many mutations have been characterized, have become model organisms for genetics teaching and research.

Natural history

Life cycle

      The typical fern, a sporophyte, consists of stem, leaf, and root; it produces spores; and its cells each have two sets of chromosomes (chromosome), one set from the egg and one from the sperm. The sporophyte of most ferns is perennial (it lives for several years) and reproduces vegetatively by branching of the rootlike underground stem, or rhizome, often forming large, genetically uniform colonies, or clones. A few ferns propagate by root proliferations, and some, especially in the wet tropics, reproduce by leaf proliferations.

      The spores are haploid; that is, they have one set of chromosomes. They are produced in specialized organs—the spore cases, or sporangia (fern)—on the fern leaves (fronds). Once released, the spores are carried by wind currents, and a small percentage of them fall in appropriate germination sites to form the sexual plants, or gametophytes. In ferns the gametophytes are commonly referred to as prothallia (prothallium), and they are best known to biologists as laboratory objects in artificial culture. They are rarely observed in nature without arduous searching, and the gametophyte stage of the majority of fern species has never been seen in the wild.

      The prothallia are tiny—usually less than 8 mm (0.3 inch) long—and kidney-shaped in the majority of species. They grow only until the new sporophyte has been formed by fertilization; then they wither and die in most species. The process of fertilization is accomplished by sperm and eggs produced upon the same or more commonly different gametophytes, and both the fertilized egg (zygote) and the resultant embryo are held within the tissues of the prothallium until the embryo grows out as an independent plant. Exceptions to this life cycle include several aquatic genera with separate megaspores and microspores, in which the gametophytic phase is reduced and remains largely within the spore walls. Also, many ferns are apomictic; that is, they produce spores with the same number of chromosomes as found in the sporophyte, and new sporophytes arise directly from cells of the gametophyte without the need for gametes or fertilization.

Ecology

 Ecologically, the ferns are most commonly plants of shaded damp forests of both temperate and tropical zones. Some fern species grow equally well on soil and upon rocks; others are confined strictly to rocky habitats, where they occur in fissures and crevices of cliff faces, boulders, and taluses. Acidic rocks such as granites, sandstones, and quartzites are associated with characteristic fern species different from those of alkaline rocks such as calcites and dolomites. A few species appear to be confined to serpentine and related rocks. In the tropics as many as two-thirds of the ferns of an area may grow as epiphytes (epiphyte) on the shaded lower trunks and branches or in the crowns of trees. A few so-called epiphytic ferns are actually climbers that originate upon the ground and grow up tree trunks. In these the lower leaves (bathyphylls) are usually vegetative and are often different in form from those at the higher levels (acrophylls), which are entirely or partly fertile in that they bear sporangia over their surfaces.

 Both epipetric (growing on rocks) and epiphytic ferns may show structural adaptations to dry habitats similar to those of some desert plants. These adaptive features include such specializations as hard tissues and thick texture; the surface cells, or epidermis, may be provided with a very thick cuticle (a waxy layer); and abundant hairs or scales may be found on the leaf and stem surfaces. Terrestrial ferns, growing on the ground, may also possess such modifications, especially those that grow in salt marshes (e.g., leather ferns, Acrostichum) and in open, fully exposed sites (e.g., bracken, Pteridium; lip ferns, Cheilanthes; and brakes, Pteris).

      Ferns that grow in the open are often referred to as sun ferns (e.g., Gleichenia) and, unlike most ferns, do not (at least as mature plants) require shade. Water ferns (water fern)—waterclovers (Marsilea), water spangles (Salvinia), and mosquito ferns (mosquito fern) (Azolla)—surprisingly are very commonly inhabitants of dry regions. They appear only after rains, however, and their growth and life cycles are accomplished rapidly, probably as an adaptation to the need for making quick use of water. These ferns have two types of spores that essentially lack the vegetative phase of other ferns; they simply produce sex organs and sperm and eggs rapidly, utilizing food in the spores. Many inhabitants of dry rocky slopes and cliffs, especially in the maidenhair family, Pteridaceae, have developed a modified type of life cycle known as apogamy, in which fertilization is bypassed. This life cycle is also believed to foster quick reproduction in connection with brief damp periods; the gametophytes grow quickly, with buds developing directly into sporophytes. Thus, free water is not required for swimming sperm.

      Parasites and animals that feed upon ferns do not seem to be numerous, although the information available is not complete. Fungi infect ferns, some of them producing soruslike (i.e., resembling the sorus (fern), the sporangium cluster of ferns) dark bodies, or sclerotia. Snails and slugs commonly attack young, uncurling fronds (leaves) of some species, and various beetles have been observed to graze upon ferns. Partially eaten or insect-damaged fronds are not commonly observed in most fern species, however, which suggests that they may contain repulsive substances that ward off grazers. Many ferns have chemical compounds similar or identical to molting hormones of insects, and these may play a role in protecting the plants from major insect damage.

      Although the sporophyte is long-lived, the fern gametophyte is usually ephemeral. It develops in a microenvironment characterized by little competition from other plants (including even mosses and algae); exposed humus, decomposing plant materials, or fresh mineral surfaces; deep to moderate shade; and a humid atmosphere. Even ferns whose sporophytes tolerate sun and drought tend to have these requirements for their gametophytes. On rocks, for example, the gametophytes form in protected crevices in which light is minimal and moisture maximal. Because of their requirements for exposed soil, development of fern gametophytes is promoted by damage to mature vegetation, such as fallen trees in the forest, flooding, and deep erosion. Prothallia are observed in nature most commonly upon shaded soil banks in forests and along streams and upon rotting logs.

      As the bulk of reproduction of ferns is probably vegetative, taking place in the sporophytic stage, the presence of a large stand of a particular kind of fern results not so much from sexual reproduction by gametophytes as from clone formation by rhizomes and in some cases by root or leaf proliferations. In fact, vegetative reproduction probably accounts for the bulk of fern plants in the world; the sexual cycle, including spores and independent gametophytes, is probably important primarily in invading new habitats, extending the plant's geographic range, and creating ever so slight variations through rearrangement of the genetic material during meiotic cell division immediately preceding spore production.

Form and function

spore

      The fern spore—a single living cell, usually protected by a thick wall—is the main source of population dispersal, being readily carried by wind. Ferns display a wide diversity of spore types in terms of shape, wall structure, and sexuality, and these types prove to have great value in determining taxonomic relationships. The full functional significance of the different types, except on the grossest scale, is not yet fully understood; for example, the minute differences in sculpturing of the outer wall surface do not, in the present state of knowledge, appear to have functional significance.

Shape

      The basic spore shape among ferns is tetrahedral; the proximal face (the one facing inward during the tetrad, or four-cell, stage following reduction division, or meiosis) is made up of three sloping planes, and the distal, or outer, face consists of a single rounded surface. The tetrahedral structure is commonly obscured in so-called globose spores, the walls of which are thin and soft. Often, the wall is composed of exospore (outer spore layer) only, there being no additional jacket, or perispore. The wall may be either unsculptured and smooth or provided with a variety of sculptured patterns. The tetrahedral spore is formed by cellular divisions in two different planes at right angles to one another during meiosis in the spore mother cell. This results in a three-branched (trilete) tetrad scar where the four products of meiosis were initially joined before the spores matured.

      In contrast, the bilateral spore type of many fern species is formed by successive cell divisions in planes along a single axis during meiosis of the spore mother cell. This results in a linear (monolete) scar running parallel to the long axis of the spore. Most bilateral spores in ferns are bean-shaped and jacketed by a perisporial layer, a distinctive covering of the outer wall.

Size

      Most ferns are homosporous, each plant having spores of one shape and size, usually 30 to 50 micrometres in length or diameter, although some reach more than 100 micrometres. A few fern families, however, have dimorphic spores, small ones (microspores) and large ones (megaspores). The gametophytes of ferns with dimorphic spores are endosporous; that is, they do not emerge in germination and fail to grow beyond the confines of the spore walls. photosynthesis is essentially lacking, the food being stored in the spore. The microspores produce sperm in antheridia, and the megaspores produce eggs in archegonia. The vegetative phase of the gametophyte in these forms has been practically eliminated, and the developing embryo in the megaspore lives on stored food materials. The differentiation between male and female gametophytes ensures cross-fertilization. This set of conditions, known only in the families Marsileaceae and Salviniaceae, is called heterospory.

Wall

      Spore walls may be thick or thin. Thick-walled spores are capable of surviving for a number of years, in some cases up to several decades. Sporocarps (masses of sporangia) of 100-year-old waterclover (Marsilea) have been successfully germinated. Most natural germination of fern spores (except for water ferns) occurs on exposed damp surfaces of rock, on soil, or on dead plant materials.

      A number of fern genera (e.g., Osmunda and its relatives, Grammitis and its relatives, Hymenophyllum, Trichomanes, Matteuccia, and Equisetum) possess thin-walled spores. In practically all known examples, such thin-walled spores are also green-pigmented, being provided with chloroplasts. Such spores are common among rainforest genera; they are often short-lived and require a short time for germination. Spores of Hymenophyllum, Trichomanes, and Grammitis remain viable only a few days, those of Osmunda and Equisetum a few months.

gametophyte

      When the spore wall cracks under appropriate moist conditions, the fern gametophyte is formed. Emerging from the spore at the time of germination are a nongreen rhizoid (rootlike organ), which attaches the plant to the growing surface, and a green single cell—the mother cell that gives rise to the rest of the gametophyte. At first, in most homosporous ferns, growth is in the form of a single filament, and it may continue in this fashion if lighting conditions are weak. If lighting is optimal, however, the gametophyte becomes a two-dimensional sheet of cells and later a layered three-dimensional structure. The apical cell, which initiates growth, is soon replaced by a growth zone, or meristem, which, as a result of the directions of cell division and enlargement, comes to lie in an apical notch in the gametophyte, surrounded on either side by the prothallial wings—flat platelike protrusions, one cell thick. The average size of the gametophyte at the time of fertilization is approximately 2 to 8 mm (0.08 to 0.32 inch) long and up to 8 mm wide.

Specialized forms

      From a basic type of gametophyte, somewhat like that just described, a number of highly specialized forms have evolved that are characteristic of certain genera. Ribbonlike and strap-shaped gametophytes are known especially among tropical rainforest ferns such as Vittaria, Grammitis, and Hymenophyllum and are usually irregularly and extensively branched, forming large masses of intertwining ribbons. Some of these are actually more abundant than their corresponding sporophytes in certain localities (e.g., the Appalachian Mountains, where “pure cultures” of gametophytes totally lacking sporophytes have commonly been found). Filamentous (threadlike) gametophytes are known in the genera Trichomanes (Hymenophyllaceae) and Schizaea (Schizaeaceae).

      Tuberlike gametophytes occur in several groups—e.g., the families Ophioglossaceae (all members), Schizaeaceae (Actinostachys), and Gleicheniaceae (Stromatopteris). All are nongreen underground plants that have close associations with fungi (fungus) and are therefore assumed to be saprophytic (i.e., dependent for nutrition upon rotting organic material in the soil). They commonly occur 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 inches) deep in the ground.

      In heterosporous ferns the endosporous gametophytes are much reduced. The male gametophyte in the microspore is made up of the equivalent of one antheridium and its complement of sperm. The female gametophyte, although considerably larger in size, is equally reduced in a morphological sense, the greater space within the megaspore being filled by stored nutritive materials and tissues formed around the base of the female sex organs.

Vegetative reproduction

      Vegetative propagation of some photosynthetic fern gametophytes is accomplished by continued growth and fragmentation, but this does not spread the gametophyte very far. Some ferns (Vittaria, Grammitis, and the family Hymenophyllaceae) produce specialized filaments, or gemmae, that break off and are carried away by water droplets, wind, or possibly insects or spiders to initiate new colonies.

Sexual reproduction

      The sex organs of ferns are of two types. The sperm-producing organ, the antheridium, consists of a jacket of sterile cells with sperm-producing cells inside. Antheridia may be sunken (as in the families Ophioglossaceae and Marattiaceae) or protruding. They vary in size from those with hundreds of sperm to those with only 12 or so. The egg-producing organ, the archegonium, contains one gamete (sex cell), which is always located in the lower, more or less dilated portion of the archegonium, the venter. The upper part of the archegonium, the neck, consists of four rows of cells containing central neck cells. The uppermost of the neck cells are the neck canal cells; the lowest cell is the ventral canal cell, which is situated just above the egg.

      Fertilization is attained by the ejection of sperm from antheridia. The sperm swim through free water toward simple organic acids released at the opening of the archegonium, the neck of which spreads apart at the apex, permitting the neck cells to be extruded and the sperm to swim in and penetrate the egg. The sperm are made up almost entirely of nuclear material, but their surface is provided with spiral bands of cilia—hairlike organs that effect locomotion. When the egg is fertilized, the base of the neck closes, and the embryo develops within the expanding venter.

Embryo

      Within the archegonial venter the zygote undergoes characteristic cell divisions to form the embryo, which remains encapsulated in the gametophyte until it breaks out and becomes an independent plant. The pattern of development in most ferns is a distinctive one, and indeed only in the Botrychium subgenus Sceptridium and in all species of the family Marattiaceae thus far studied are found conditions of embryonic development resembling those of seed plants. Here the first division of the zygote is transverse. The inner cell grows inward, producing the stem and first leaf, and the outer cell divides to form a foot, a mass of tissue that exists as part of the embryo and disappears when its function, presumably absorption, is completed. The root appears later within the stem and grows outward. In all other known ferns the zygote divides neatly into four quadrants, the first division approximately parallel to the long axis of the archegonium and the following division at right angles. This results in initial cells that give rise to four organs: the outer forward cell (i.e., toward the growing apex of the gametophyte and the neck of the archegonium) becomes the first leaf, the inner forward cell the stem apex, the outer back cell the first root, and the inner back cell the foot. Thus, the majority of ferns tend to have a precise arrangement of their organs and the divisions that produce them in the embryo.

      The young sporophytes of ferns remain attached to the gametophytes for varying lengths of time, absorbing nutrients from the gametophyte through the foot. Once the sporophyte has developed independent existence and the root has penetrated the soil, the gametophyte soon shrivels.

stem

      Fern stems vary from the tall, narrow trunks of certain tree ferns that reach 25 metres (80 feet) tall down to clumped or creeping rootstocks, or rhizomes (rhizome). Rhizomes are the most common stem form. The majority of them grow horizontally upon or just beneath the surface of the soil. Some stems are so narrow as to be threadlike, as in many tropical epiphytic ferns. A few ferns in different parts of the world have evolved radically specialized stems containing chambers in which ants take up residence; the role of the ants in the lives of these ferns is unknown, but it may be for protection against other insects. Vinelike ferns are common, but shrubby ferns are extremely rare.

      Stem growth is initiated by one to several large apical cells. These are usually well protected by various types of hairs or scales and by the overarching embryonic leaves. Leaves and leaf bases play a major role in the protection of fern stems, and many stems are said to have a leaf armour. Such stems are densely covered with old sclerified leaf bases, which increase the apparent size of the stem many times. The old leaf bases may serve as protection or as food-storage organs. In most species the stems are indeterminate in growth and thus can theoretically continue to grow indefinitely. Annuals—short-lived species that complete development, shed spores, and die in a single growing season—are exceptional; only a few examples are known.

Surface structure

      Whether covered with leaf armour or not, the surface of the fern stem is protected by an epidermis, or “skin,” a single layer of epidermal cells, which are more or less flat cells with thick outer walls. Most fern stems also are covered with a protective indument, consisting of hairs or scales; these are so distinctive that they are valuable in identification and classification. The indument includes such diverse types of epidermal emergences as simple glands (unbranched one- to several-celled hairs with a headlike cluster of secretory terminal cells), simple (unbranched) nonglandular hairs; dendroid hairs (branching filaments), and scales (flat cell plates) of many patterns. Scales (also known as paleae) are defined as a cell plate two or more cell rows wide, at least at the base, whereas hairs generally have a single row of cells. Transitional states are also known.

Cortex

      The cortex is the region outside the vascular cylinder but below the surface of the stem. It is composed mostly of storage parenchyma cells (a relatively generalized cell type). Rooting animals, such as pigs, occasionally dig up fern rhizomes for the starchy materials contained in them. There is a strong tendency for the outermost cortical cells to become darkly pigmented and thick-walled.

Vascular tissues

      The steles—cylinders of vascular tissues in the centres of fern stems—exhibit somewhat diverse patterns. Most common ferns possess a “dictyostele,” consisting of vascular strands interconnected in such a manner that, in any given cross section of stem, several distinct bundles can be observed. These are separated by regions filled with parenchyma cells known as leaf gaps. There are, however, numerous “siphonostelic” ferns, in which the gaps do not overlap and a given section shows only one gap, and some “protostelic” ferns, in which no gaps at all are formed. Complex stelar patterns are known in some species, as in the common bracken fern (Pteridium), which has a polycyclic dictyostele, one in which one stele occurs within another stele; large strands of fibrelike cells running between them form mechanically specialized hard tissue, or sclerenchyma.

Root

      Fern roots are generally thin and wiry, although some are fleshy and either slender (in the Ophioglossaceae) or as much as 13 mm (0.5 inch) in diameter (e.g., Acrostichum and Marattia). The relation of the roots to the stems is a valuable identification tool. For example, in certain tree ferns (tree fern) (e.g., Cyathea and Cibotium) and in the royal ferns (Osmunda), the entire stem surface is covered by masses of roots. If large enough, the dead tangles of tree fern roots can be cut with a saw into various shapes suitable for attaching epiphytic greenhouse plants, and pieces of such root masses have proved to be useful in horticulture for cultivating orchids and bromeliads. Because of the massive destruction of tree ferns for this purpose, the importation of tree fern logs into many countries is now prohibited. Certain tropical ferns have elaborately hairy roots whose surfaces are covered with locks of silky golden or brown root hairs.

Leaf

Shapes

      The leaf (also known as frond) of ferns is the part of the plant most readily visible to observation. The leaf plan in practically all ferns is pinnate—that is, featherlike with a central axis and smaller side branches—and this is considered to be the primitive condition because of its widespread occurrence. From this basic type a broad diversity of forms evolved. Some ferns have palmate leaves (with veins or leaflets radiating from one point), and some, such as the staghorn ferns, have secondarily evolved falsely dichotomous leaves. In some genera (e.g., Lygodium and Salpichlaena) the main leaf axis (rachis) twines about on shrubs and small trees, sometimes reaching 20 metres (65 feet) in length.

      Whether a given leaf is divided into segments (compound) or is undivided (simple) is of considerable value in identification of similar fern species. The difference between divided and undivided leaves is not a profound one, however, and closely related species commonly differ from one another in this respect.

      The extent of division in fern leaves, or fronds, ranges from those in which the leaf margins are merely so deeply lobed as to have narrow-based segments to those having obviously stalked leaflets, or pinnae. The pinnae themselves may also be lobed or truly divided with stalked segments; and the resulting segments, the pinnules, may also be lobed or divided. Depending on the degree of cutting, fronds are described as simple, once divided, twice divided, thrice divided, and so on. Some ferns are known in which the fronds are five times compound, making them exceedingly delicate, with segments so small as to be almost hairlike.

Venation

      Generally, the patterns of the leaf veins, or vascular bundles (which can be seen readily by holding the specimen up to a strong light), are pinnate, and the veins are free; that is, they all diverge and never coalesce, either along their sides or at the ends. Nevertheless, there are numerous fern groups in which netted, or reticulate, venation is found. These have vein patterns like those of other ferns for the most part, except that various systems of networks and areolae (areas enclosed within loops of veins) have developed between the major, pinnately arranged veins. There are many reticulate patterns known. One of the more striking is that in which each loop or areola contains one or more free included veinlets, as seen in various members of the family Polypodiaceae. Another is the herringbone pattern, believed to result from an evolutionary concrescence (growing together) of pinnae, as shown by certain tree ferns (Cyathea), lady ferns (Athyrium), and marsh ferns (Thelypteris).

Leaf stalk

      Fern leaves vary in the relationship of the petiole, or leaf stalk (often referred to as stipe in ferns), to the blade (the expanded part of the leaf). Many strap-shaped leaves essentially have no petiole and are described as sessile; broad, ovate, or triangular leaves commonly have a pronounced leaf stalk, called a stipe, and are termed petiolate or stipitate. Narrowly elongated leaves in ferns are usually erect, spreading, or, in certain epiphytes, pendent. Leaves that are broadly ovate or triangular tend to be borne at right angles to the incident light. Broad-leaved ferns thus become more or less bent at the blade base, with an arch at the top of the petiole.

      Anatomically, the petioles or stipes of fern leaves show nearly as much diversity in cross-sectional pattern as do the stems. The simplest vascular strands of fern petioles are commonly crescent-shaped single bundles. In more and more elaborate petiolar patterns, the crescent takes on the form of the Greek letter omega (Ω), opening adaxially (i.e., upward or toward the central axis of the plant). The latter shape, with many variations, occurs widely among ferns, especially those considered on other grounds to be primitive. Double-stranded ferns (the omega now divided into two parts and unconnected below) are usually associated with more specialized genera (e.g., Athyrium and Thelypteris). Any of the generalized patterns may exist as broken-up strands; the separation is commonly associated with size, small leaves having only three to nine strands, large leaves of tree ferns having many. Petiolar vascular bundle shapes have been found to be so definitive as to have a certain value in separating fern genera and families.

Tissues

      At the tissue level the leaf blades have certain differences from those of other plants, but the same general picture prevails. There are an upper and a lower epidermis, the latter with many stomates (microscopic pores). In between, the mesophyll is usually composed of cells with large intercellular spaces. In thicker leaves the upper mesophyll is composed of palisade cells—elongated cells arranged parallel and oriented with the long axis vertical to the leaf surface. The veins range from the massive major midribs, or rachises, which have well-defined xylem, phloem, pericycle, and endodermis, to the delicate capillaries represented by little more than a single file of tracheids that sometimes ends in a cluster of somewhat modified tracheids. Underneath a sporangium or sorus, the veins may become dilated and multilayered (so-called fertile veins). In many ferns all or nearly all of the photosynthesis is accomplished by the epidermis, the mesophyll having been eliminated in evolution. An example is the common maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum), the blade of which, between veins, is mainly made up of only two layers, the upper and the lower epidermis, in which most photosynthesis occurs.

      The indument of fern leaves may be like that of the stem, but usually the hairs or scales are fewer, more widely separated, and smaller, or they may be of a different type. Numerous ferns are described as having glabrous (bald) leaf blades, but many of these actually have at least a few microscopic hairs, which are usually glandular and appressed to the blade surface.

Comparisons with leaves of other plant groups

      The fern leaf, or pteridophyll, differs from the “true leaf” (euphyll) of the flowering plants in its vernation, or manner of expanding from the bud. In most ferns, vernation is circinate; that is, the leaf unrolls from the tip, with the appearance of a fiddlehead, rather than expanding from a folded condition. It also differs in its venation, which usually is free or simply reticulate rather than being highly complex and made up of areolae containing numerous branched, free-ending veinlets (except in certain specialized genera).

      Fern leaves (except in the horsetails, Equisetum) differ from the leaves (sphenophylls) of conifers in that fern leaves usually display a well-developed central midrib with lateral vein branches rather than a dichotomous, midribless pattern or a simple vein in a narrow, needlelike, or straplike leaf. Although a few ferns that have narrow leaves also have only a single central vascular strand (e.g., certain species of Schizaea), they can usually be distinguished readily from the scalelike or awl-like leaves (microphylls) of club mosses on the basis of other characteristics, such as the position of the sporangia and the mode of leaf development. A few genera of ferns (e.g., sword ferns, Nephrolepis; Jamesonia; Salpichlaena; and climbing ferns, Lygodium) have members with more or less indeterminate (i.e., continuous) leaf growth accomplished by periodically quiescent buds. Fern leaves, however, are mostly determinate; that is, they stop growing when they reach maturity. Leaves grow from apical cells in most ferns, and these delicate embryonic cells are protected by the curled-over spiral of the crosier (unrolling leaf tip) and by hairs or scales. When the blade formation is complete, there is no longer an embryonic tip.

      In overall length, mature leaves vary from 1 or 2 mm (0.04 or 0.08 inch) in certain filmy ferns (Hymenophyllaceae) to 30 or more metres (100 feet; family Gleicheniaceae). In terms of overall size, the most massive frond is that of the elephant fern (Angiopteris), with fronds more than 5 metres (16 feet) long and petioles 15 cm (6 inches) in diameter.

Sporangium and sorus

The sporangium

      The spore cases, or spore-producing structures, in ferns range from globose sessile (nonstalked) organs more than 1 mm (0.04 inch) in diameter down to microscopic stalked structures, the capsules of which are only 0.3 mm (0.01 inch) in diameter. The former are known as eusporangia, the latter as leptosporangia. Eusporangia occur in the classes Psilotopsida and Marattiopsida, and leptosporangia occur in the majority of the species in the class Polypodiopsida. There are, however, many intermediate forms between the two types of sporangia, and these are known in various primitive species of the Polypodiopsida, such as members of the family Osmundaceae.

      The capsule wall in eusporangia tends to be relatively massive, made up of two layers or more. In leptosporangia, on the other hand, the wall is thin and, at least at maturity, composed of one layer of cells. Opening of the capsule in eusporangia, such as those of the genus Botrychium, is accomplished by separation along a well-differentiated line of dehiscence (opening); but in most typical leptosporangia, except for a few stomial (“mouth”) cells that separate along one side, the process of dehiscence tears the cells apart more or less irregularly.

      The opening process in eusporangia is the result of a generalized stress on drying walls, the cells of which are differentially thickened. There is no mechanism to throw the spores, and they are simply carried away by the wind. In contrast, leptosporangia display more or less specialized bows, or annuli, usually consisting of a single row of differentially thickened cells. Apparently, the mechanical force for opening and for throwing the spores derives entirely from these annular cells; all the other capsule cells are thin-walled and unmodified. The stresses imposed by the drying of the annular cells result in the collapse of the outer sides of the cells, thus straightening out the annulus and ripping the soft lateral cells of the capsule apart. As the annular cells continue to be deformed by the cohesive forces of the increasingly tense water molecules within, the spore case completely opens. Finally, the cohesive capacity of the water molecules is exceeded, the water film between the outer walls of the annular cells breaks, and the entire annulus snaps back to its original position, tossing the spores into the air.

      Most primitive sporangial types are stalkless, or sessile. If a stalk is present at all, it is merely a slightly raised multicellular area at the base of the sporangial capsule. In typical leptosporangia, however, there commonly are well-developed stalks, and these are often extremely long and narrow (e.g., as in Davallia and Loxoscaphe), made up of only one or two rows of cells and often 1.7 to 2 mm (0.07 to 0.08 inch) in length.

      The trend in sporangial evolution is evidently from solitary large capsules to increasingly elaborate groupings of smaller sporangia. These changes are accompanied by the appearance of such refinements as paraphyses and indusia. Paraphyses are sterile structures that grow among or on the sporangia. Indusia are papery tentlike structures that cover the sori (clusters of sporangia).

The sorus

      Hand in hand with the reduction in size of single sporangia are seen more and more complex aggregations of sporangia known as sori. The meristematic area—the region of new cell growth—that produces them may continue its activities over a number of weeks, producing sporangia of all ages, older ones being pushed aside as new ones mature in their turn. When sori develop on the leaves of house ferns, they are often mistaken for tiny insects (young stages) or a fungus disease (older stages) rather than recognized as organs necessary for the normal reproduction of the plant.

      The stages in progressive evolution of sori can be depicted as follows: (1) simple clusters of sporangia, these more or less coalesced (family Marattiaceae) or separate (Gleicheniaceae), all of them maturing at the same time, (2) gradate clusters of sporangia, the outermost ones maturing first, the innermost last, and (3) mixed clusters of sporangia, all ages present, the younger ones arising from the same meristematic zones as the older ones. The adaptive significance of this change is probably related to the duration of spore production, the mixed character of the more advanced sori extending the period beyond that of solitary sporangia or of simple, simultaneously maturing sori.

      Sporangia and especially sori have traditionally provided the most important characters for fern classification. Indeed, many unrelated ferns were once classified together because of what are now believed to have been coincidental convergences in soral structure. Between one-half and two-thirds of the species of ferns have one or another of the following six soral arrangements: (1) A linear arrangement of sporangia along veins, avoiding the leaf area between the veins, is found in many fern genera, especially in the genus Pityrogramma. (2) A line of sporangia along the leaf edge, protected usually by a rolled-over and modified laminar margin, is represented by Pteris. (3) Round and naked sori (i.e., without an indusium) are found in Polypodium. (4) An arrangement of large sori that usually expand over the entire undersurface of the blade or pinna is represented by Acrostichum. Such sori probably arose by the fusion of smaller clusters of sori. Of the many arrangements of indusiate sori (i.e., sori that are protected by indusia, or special scalelike structures), two of the most widespread are (5) a linear or oblong sorus along a vein covered from one side by a narrow indusium, which is represented by Asplenium, and (6) a sorus that is round but covered with a kidney-shaped or shieldlike indusium, which is represented by Dryopteris (shield fern).

The indusium

      Protection of the sporangial cluster from exposure, drying, and other hazards is accomplished in various ways, such as by the formation of the sori in grooves or pockets or by the production of various forms of covers. One is the so-called false indusium, a rolled-over leaf margin under which sporangia form and mature. The true indusium is a separate and unique formation, the structural origins of which are not clear, that constitutes a more or less papery covering over the sorus. A widespread type of indusium among members of the family Cyatheaceae is one shaped like a cup, which arises around the base of the sorus, often enclosing the sorus until the sporangia are mature (e.g., Cyathea). In some genera, marginal sori are protected by a two-lipped, or valvate, indusium (e.g., Dennstaedtia, Dicksonia, and Hymenophyllum). When sori fuse laterally to form continuous lines, or coenosori, any indusia also tend to fuse.

Paraphyses

      Approximately one-third of fern species have paraphyses of one type or another. These are sterile hairs or scales intermixed with the sporangia, and they are, like indusia, believed to perform a protective function. Paraphyses usually are hairs or modifications of hairs that arise among the sporangia or on the sporangial stalk or capsule. In various genera of ferns, the paraphyses have proved to be helpful sources of taxonomic data.

Cytogenetics

Chromosome numbers (chromosome number) and polyploidy

      The study of chromosomes (chromosome), hybrids, and breeding systems has revealed much of value in understanding ferns. The chromosomes of ferns tend to have high base, or x, numbers, ranging from approximately 20 to 70, with the majority between 25 and 45. The familiar genus Osmunda, for example, has x = 22, Pteris 29, Asplenium 36, Dryopteris 41, Botrychium 45, and Pteridium 52. Among homosporous ferns, exceptions to the rule of high chromosome numbers are rare; in one species of filmy fern (Hymenophyllaceae) (Hymenophyllum peltatum), x = 11, the lowest number reported. Among heterosporous ferns, however, the situation is conspicuously different, and all have low base numbers (Marsilea, x = 10, 13, or 19; Salvinia, x = 9; Azolla, x = 22).

      The explanation for the difference traditionally adopted by cytologists is that the high numbers in homosporous ferns arose from paleopolyploidy, the repeated duplication of whole sets of chromosomes long ago in the evolution of these plants. However, genetic studies have shown that in spite of their high chromosomal base numbers, most species act functionally as diploids (expressing only two copies of each gene in the sporophyte) rather than as polyploids (polyploidy). Evidence in support of the hypothesis that ferns are paleopolyploids is mostly circumstantial, such as several genetic studies that have demonstrated the selective silencing (deactivation) of various duplicate gene copies in recently formed polyploids.

      Ferns overall still have relatively high levels of polyploidy, but these polyploids are all of relatively recent origin. Approximately 45 percent of the extant species of ferns are such neopolyploids.

      The base chromosome numbers (indicated by the symbol x) have been used for classification purposes. Commonly, the base number is uniform for a genus or family, or it ranges around a given number. More rarely, the number varies drastically, as in the genus Thelypteris, which has x numbers ranging from 27 to 36, or Lindsaea, with x numbers from 34 to about 50. So much variation in the chromosome base number suggests that the “genus” concerned may be unnatural or that it may be very ancient, with intermediate numbers having disappeared (e.g., Dennstaedtia), or that it is in a state of active evolution (Thelypteridaceae).

      Simple polyploid series—multiples of the base number—are prevalent among ferns, and a few species are reported to have forms or races that are diploid (with two times the base number of chromosomes), tetraploid (four times), or hexaploid (six times). For example, the fragile fern complex centred on Cystopteris fragilis has species with the number of chromosomes per nucleus in the sporophyte generation—represented by 2n—equal to two, four, and six times the base number of x = 42; or 2n = 84, 168, and 252. Species with both diploid and tetraploid forms are common, especially among widespread, abundant ferns. In most cases the cytological races are differentiated on quantitative characters, especially the sizes of such cells as spores, epidermal guard cells (cells next to stomates), and hair cells.

Hybridization

      In certain fern genera, such as spleenworts (Asplenium), wood ferns (Dryopteris (shield fern)), and holly ferns (Polystichum), hybridization between species (interspecific crossing) may be so frequent as to cause serious taxonomic problems. Hybridization between genera is rare but has been reported between closely related groups. Fern hybrids are conspicuously intermediate in characteristics between their parents, and simple dominance of single characters is unusual. Occasionally, when the interspecific crosses involve strongly different characteristics, the hybrid displays an irregularity in expression of these characteristics, often involving marked asymmetry. The majority of hybrids are sterile and reproduce, if at all, only by vegetative propagation.

      In some genera of ferns, there is a natural trend toward the production of unreduced spores in a small minority of the sporangia. In such sporangia, the final round of mitosis (structural cell division) in the tissue that eventually develops into the spore mother cells results in a replication of the chromosomes without full cellular division (endomitosis), resulting in a restitution nucleus. When these spore mother cells with twice the starting number of chromosomes undergo meiosis, the resulting spores and gametophytes have the same number of chromosomes as the maternal sporophyte. Often gametes (egg or sperm) from the rare diploid gametophytes cross-fertilize with reduced gametes from spores that resulted from spore mother cells produced without endomitosis. The sporophyte that results from the union of diploid and haploid gametes in such cases is triploid and, for reasons not presently understood, always converts to an apomictic lifestyle.

      Reproduction in sterile fern hybrids sometimes is accomplished by the process of apogamy, in which spores possessing the same chromosome complement as the sporophyte are produced. These unreduced spores (with the 2n number of chromosomes) are viable and germinate into normal-appearing gametophytes that usually form male sex organs (antheridia) but not female ones (archegonia). The hybrid gametophytes do not undergo normal sexual fusion of gametes. Instead, the meristematic (cell-producing) region of the prothallium simply buds off a new sporophyte clonally, and there is a direct conversion from gametophyte to sporophyte generation.

      In most primary fern hybrids the spore mother cells are unable to form bivalents (chromosome pairs) at meiosis, and reduction division results in irregular, deformed, and inviable spores. In the sporangia of apogamous ferns, however, automatic doubling of chromosomes occurs by endomitosis. In these doubled sporangia there are therefore only 8 spore mother cells rather than the usual 16, and they undergo meiosis, producing viable diploid spores. Apogamous ferns are known in a number of genera of higher ferns in various families, including Adiantum, Asplenium, Cheilanthes, Dryopteris, Pellaea, Polypodium, and Pteris.

      Besides apogamous hybrids, there are numerous demonstrated or suspected sexual “allopolyploid hybrids,” which are believed to have originated by doubling of the chromosomes of sterile crosses (but without the shift to an apogamous lifestyle). These are intermediate in their characteristics between well-known parental species and behave like normal, divergent species, alternating sporophytes with gametophytes and undergoing normal meiosis and fertilization. Genera with frequent hybridization often exhibit a variety of chromosome numbers that are multiples of the generic base number. One of the best examples is the tropical genus Anemia, with the base number of 38 and species with 76, 114, 152, 190, and 266.

      Both apogamous and allopolyploid hybrids may enjoy wide geographic ranges and occur in as great abundance as normal species. Both types of hybrids are also capable of creating additional hybrids by backcrossing (to the parent species) or by crossing with other species. In apogamous ferns the sperm are generally viable and capable of fusing with eggs of other, normal species. In total, hybrids—sterile, apogamous, and allopolyploid—may make up as many as 25 percent of the different kinds of ferns in a given flora.

      Curiously, in spite of the high number of ferns that are epiphytic (growing on trees), nearly all the fern hybrids are terrestrial or epipetric (growing on rocks); hybridization is very rare among epiphytes. The reason for this phenomenon is not yet clear; it could be simply that the mosses and decaying leaves on tree trunks and branches may keep the individual gametophytes apart, whereas on muddy banks gametophytes of different species may be in close proximity.

Origin and phylogeny

Fossil record

      Fernlike characteristics are known to be combined in numerous fossils coming from geologic strata as old as the Devonian Period (beginning 416 million years ago). The Carboniferous Period (about 360 to 300 million years ago) was a time of great evolutionary experimentation in ferns, but nearly all those groups are now extinct. Modern ferns, however, are relatively uniform in basic structure, and they share a large number of characteristics, combined in a distinctive way. All the living families, with the exception of the primitive classes—Psilotopsida, Equisetopsida, and Marattiopsida—possess a ground plan of correlated characteristics that seems clearly to bind them together as an assemblage that is monophyletic (i.e., having one evolutionary line). In spite of this, the ferns still display wide variation.

      The norm of modern ferns is so distinctive that the vast majority of them can be recognized immediately as members of this plant division. Nevertheless, various workers in the past, especially among paleobotanists, have singled out fossil fragments and speculated that they represent fern ancestors, sometimes giving them such names as Archaeopteris (primitive fern) or Protopteridium (first fern). One or two extant genera can be traced to direct ancestors in the Carboniferous, but for the most part the fossil record shows no immediate ancestors of modern ferns; the first relatives of today's ferns in the fossil record are usually classifiable into living groups.

      The earliest true ferns arose during Carboniferous times, or perhaps a few in Devonian, and have been classified in five families—Marattiaceae, Equisetaceae, Osmundaceae, Gleicheniaceae, and Schizaeaceae. Several extinct groups of the Carboniferous Period and the Permian Period (about 300 to 250 million years ago) that followed—Coenopteridaceae, Anachoropteridaceae, Tedeliaceae, Sermayaceae, and Tempskyaceae—represent related lines of evolution, but there are no intermediate examples to show close ties with any of the modern families of ferns. The immediate ancestors of the extinct seed ferns (seed fern) (pteridosperms) may also have been the immediate ancestors of modern ferns, judging from numerous data on sporangial arrangements and shapes as well as on leaf anatomy. What used to be considered impressions of fern leaves from fossils dating from the Carboniferous have been shown in many cases to have borne seeds or to have been associated with seed-bearing plants.

      By the time of the Triassic Period (beginning about 250 million years ago), some of the modern fern families were well established, and there are fossil records of the families Osmundaceae, Equisetaceae, Marattiaceae, Schizaeaceae, Matoniaceae, Dipteridaceae, Cyatheaceae, Marsileaceae, and Salviniaceae. However, according to most estimates, the families that contain the bulk of the modern fern species did not diversify until the Cretaceous Period (145.5 to 65.5 million years ago), at or slightly after the time of the great diversification of angiosperms (angiosperm).

Evolutionary development

      Despite a relatively large number of theories, the actual origins of the vegetative organs of ferns are still unknown. It is usually suggested that the original fern stem was protostelic (its stele having no pith or leaf gaps), but this is not necessarily true of the immediate ancestor of modern ferns. In fact, it is conceivable that “eustelar” stems, with secondary growth (i.e., growth in thickness, as in the stems of modern conifers and woody flowering plants), gave rise to modern fern stems through reduction and disappearance of the secondary growth and replacement of the stele by overlapping leaf traces (the vascular bundles from stele to leaf).

      The leaf is equally or even more problematic as to its ultimate origin. Various hypotheses have been offered, of which the telome theory (that the leaf arose from fusions and rearrangements of branching stem systems) and the enation theory (that the leaf arose from simple enations, or outgrowths) are the two most popular. The true story seems to be lost in antiquity and perhaps will never be known. Leaves of most modern ferns, with their characteristic fiddleheads, acropetal growth (i.e., “seeking the apex,” the leaf tissues maturing from the base toward the tip, where the youngest tissues are produced), and pinnate structure, are nevertheless quite distinctive. They differ in numerous respects from sphenophylls, such as those of conifers, and from euphylls, such as those of flowering plants. It is possible that these leaf types did not originate in the same way and even that different examples of each had different origins.

Classification

Annotated classification

      The classification presented here is derived from the Smith System, which was devised by the American botanist Alan Smith and various colleagues. Numbers given for the species are only rough approximations of living groups.

Division Pteridophyta (ferns (fern))

 

      Class Psilotopsida

 

      Order Ophioglossales

 

      Family Ophioglossaceae (adder's tongue, grape ferns, moonworts)

 Plants usually with somewhat fleshy stems and roots; leaves divided into sterile and fertile segments, these variously entire to highly divided, not developing through circinate vernation, the base more or less clasping the stem; eusporangiate (with unstalked, globose sporangia); gametophytes subterranean, not green; 4 or more genera (Botrychium, Helminthostachys, Ophioglossum, and Mankyua) with about 80 species.

      Order Psilotales (whisk ferns) (whisk fern)

 

      Family Psilotaceae

 Plants lacking true roots, stems dichotomously branched, protostelic (the stele lacking pith and leaf gaps); leaves reduced to minute scalelike outgrowths (enations) without veins, or small, flattened, and undivided, with a single midvein (microphylls), not developing through circinate vernation; sporangia eusporangiate in fused clusters (synangia) of two or three, situated along the aerial stems; gametophytes similar in appearance to the rhizomes of the sporophytes, subterranean, not green; 2 genera (Psilotum, Tmesipteris) with 12 species found in tropical and warm temperate regions nearly worldwide.

      Class Equisetopsida

 

      Order Equisetales (horsetails (horsetail))

 

      Family Equisetaceae

 Stems with whorled branches, longitudinally ridged, hollow between the nodes, with characteristic rings of longitudinal canals; leaves whorled, reduced to a ring of small scalelike structures, these with a single vein, often papery and not green; sporangia eusporangiate, positioned under small umbrella-shaped branchlets that are grouped into complex terminal, conelike structures (strobili); spores green, with four flattened threadlike appendages (elaters) that aid in dispersal; 1 modern genus (Equisetum (horsetail)) with 15 species, distributed nearly worldwide.

      Class Marattiopsida

 

      Order Marattiales (giant ferns)

 

      Family Marattiaceae

 Leaves pinnately divided, pulvinate (enlarged or swollen at attachment point of leaflets) in living genera, and with well-developed, fleshy stipules (appendages at leaf base); sporangia eusporangiate, in sori, or more or less coalescent in synangia (clusters); homosporous; mostly massive, fleshy ferns; 4 modern genera (Angiopteris, Christensenia, Marattia, and Danaea) with about 150 species, widely distributed in tropical regions.

      Class Polypodiopsida (also known as Filicopsida)

 

      Order Osmundales

 

      Family Osmundaceae (royal ferns)

 Plants in soil, often in wetlands; rhizomes often stout, usually erect or ascending, occasionally trunklike; leaves one to four times pinnately divided; the petiole thickened at the base; sporangia often on contracted, sometimes nongreen segments of entirely separate fertile leaves or fertile portions of otherwise vegetative leaves, less commonly along veins of unmodified leaf segments, maturing nearly simultaneously, intermediate in spore number between eusporangia and leptosporangia, the annulus a lateral patch of thick-walled cells; 4 genera ( Osmunda, Osmundopteris, Todea, and Leptopteris) and 20 modern species, distributed nearly worldwide.

      Order Hymenophyllales

 

      Family Hymenophyllaceae (filmy ferns)

 Mostly rainforest epiphytes; mostly tiny ferns with blades only one cell thick between veins; spores globose, green; gametophyte ribbon-shaped or filamentous, gemmiferous; principal genera are Hymenophyllum and Trichomanes; 7 genera (different authorities give anywhere from 2 to more than 28) with some 600 species found in tropical regions around the world, a few species extending into temperate areas.

      Order Gleicheniales

 

      Family Gleicheniaceae (forking ferns (Gleicheniaceae))

 Plants in soil or on rocks; rhizomes creeping; leaves mostly sprawling over other vegetation, falsely dichotomous, the segments mostly narrowly lobed; sporangia with oblique annuli and clustered in simple sori lacking indusia; stems creeping, protostelic (its stele lacking pith and leaf gaps); Gleichenia, Dicranopteris, and 4 other genera with about 125 species, distributed in the tropics.

      Family Dipteridaceae (umbrella ferns (Dipteridaceae))

 Plants in soil; rhizomes long-creeping, hairy; leaf blades usually palmately divided into two or more lobes, the veins of at least the vegetative fronds forming a dense network; sori scattered on or covering the leaf undersurface, each associated with two or more veins, thick, stalked, the annulus vertical or slightly oblique; 2 genera, Dipteris, with about 11 species distributed mostly in the Paleotropics, and Cheiropleuria, with 1 species (Cheiropleuria bicuspis) in the Paleotropics.

      Family Matoniaceae

 Plants in soil; leaves either fanlike, with lobed, narrow segments, or climbing, with long midribs; sporangia with oblique annuli, the simple sori covered by a thick umbrella-shaped indusium-like structure; 2 genera (Matonia and Phanerosorus) with 4 species, distributed in the Paleotropics.

      Order Schizaeales

 

      Family Schizaeaceae

 Leaves more or less grasslike, with a long petiole and a linear or fan-shaped blade; veins dichotomously branching; sporangia dense on specialized slender lobes of the ultimate segments; the annulus a subapical ring of thickened cells; 2 genera (Schizaea and Actinostachys) with about 30 species, mostly tropical.

      Family Lygodiaceae

 Rhizomes long-creeping, hairy; leaves indeterminate in growth, climbing and often twining, the primary divisions alternate along the elongating stemlike rachis; sporangia often in two rows, densely spaced along specialized slender lobes of the ultimate segments, each sporangium covered by an indusium-like flange of tissue; the annulus a subapical ring of thickened cells; 1 genus (Lygodium) with about 25 species, mostly distributed in the tropics.

      Family Anemiaceae

 Rhizomes creeping to erect, hairy; leaves with the basal pair (or, rarely, more) of primary divisions modified, mostly lacking laminar tissue, and densely covered with sporangia; sporangia with the annulus a subapical ring of thickened cells; 1 genus (Anemia) with about 100 species, mostly in the Neotropics.

      Order Salviniales

 

      Family Salviniaceae (floating ferns)

 Plants heterosporous; stems usually relatively short, mostly appearing dichotomously branched, sometimes lacking roots; leaves either alternate and two-lobed with one lobe green and floating and the other submerged and white or translucent (Azolla) or in whorls of three with two leaves unlobed and floating and the third submerged, modified, and appearing similar to a mass of dichotomously branching roots (Salvinia); sori from the submerged lobe or leaf, enclosed in a globose indusium, each containing either one megaspore or several microspores; 2 genera, often treated as separate families (Azollaceae and Salviniaceae), Azolla (mosquito fern) (about 6 species) and Salvinia (about 10 species), of floating aquatics, distributed nearly worldwide but most diverse in the tropics.

      Family Marsileaceae (clover ferns)

 Plants heterosporous; rhizomes long-creeping, slender, glabrous or hairy; leaves with two or four leaflets at the petiole tip or lacking a blade altogether, the venation of leaflets dichotomously branching; sori enclosed in stalked bean-shaped sporocarps (highly modified leaves), these very complex internally, each containing both megasporangia and microsporangia; 3 genera of mostly aquatic plants rooted in the substrate—Marsilea (waterclover), Pilularia (pillwort), and Regnellidium—with about 75 species found nearly worldwide.

      Order Cyatheales (tree ferns (tree fern))

 

      Family Cyatheaceae (scaly tree ferns)

 Stems erect and mostly trunklike (to 25 metres, [82 feet]) or less commonly creeping or sprawling to short-ascending, scaly near the tip (sometimes also hairy) and usually with a mantle of roots; leaves mostly large (up to 5 metres [about 16 feet]), but in a few species only 10–40 cm (about 4–16 inches), one to four times pinnately compound (rarely entire), the segments sometimes deeply lobed, scaly, at least on the petioles, sometimes also hairy or spiny; sori in various positions on the leaf undersurface, the sporangia on a usually short receptacle, the indusium absent or varying from deeply two-lobed to saucer-shaped, cup-shaped, or globose, the annulus slightly to moderately oblique; spores variously ornamented on the surface, often with an equatorial flange or girdle; 5 genera, including tree ferns (Alsophila, Cyathea, Gymnosophaera, and Sphaeropteris) and an isolated small genus resembling the filmy ferns (Hymenophyllopsis, often treated in its own family, Hymenophyllopsidaceae), with more than 600 modern species, widely distributed in tropical regions.

      Family Thyrsopteridaceae

 Stems erect and trunklike or sprawling, hairy and with a mantle of roots, often producing slender runners; leaves large (up to 3.5 metres [11.5 feet]), three to five times pinnately compound, the axes grooved on the upper surface, the fertile portions with reduced laminar tissue; sori situated in cuplike indusia; sporangia attached to a club-shaped receptacle, the annulus oblique; spores three-angled, the surface granular; 1 genus (Thyrsopteris) with a single species (T. elegans), endemic to the Juan Fernández Islands.

      Family Loxomataceae

 Rhizomes long-creeping, hairy; leaves medium-sized to large (0.5–5 metres [about 1.5–16 feet] long), two times pinnately compound, the segments deeply lobed, bristly hairy; sori marginal on the underside of the segments, the sporangia on an elongated receptacle that is often partially exserted from the more or less urn-shaped indusium, the annulus slightly oblique; spores often strongly ornamented on the surface but lacking an equatorial flange or girdle; 2 genera, Loxsoma, with 1 species (L. cunninghamii) in northern New Zealand, and Loxsomopsis, with 1 species (L. pearcei) from Costa Rica to Bolivia.

      Family Culcitaceae

 Stems variously prostrate and creeping or loosely ascending but usually not trunklike, hairy, sometimes with a mantle of roots; leaves large (up to 3 metres [almost 10 feet]), four to five times pinnately compound; sori marginal on the underside of the segments, the indusia unequally two-lobed or of two separate flaps, more or less cup-shaped, the sporangia mixed with paraphyses, the annulus slightly oblique; spores three-angled, the surface finely pitted or wrinkled to nearly smooth; 1 genus (Culcita) with 2 or more species that are widely distributed, mostly in tropical regions.

      Family Plagiogyriaceae

 Rhizomes creeping or, more commonly, erect, the tip (and young leaves) covered with mucilage from secretory hairs; leaves one time pinnately compound, the petiole bases swollen, dimorphic, the fertile fronds contracted and bearing dense sporangia on the undersurface; the annulus slightly oblique; spores three-angled, the surface usually with coarse tubercles; 1 genus (Plagiogyria) with about 15 species, distributed in tropical regions.

      Family Cibotiaceae

 Rhizomes massive, creeping to erect and often trunklike (up to 6 metres [almost 20 feet]), with soft yellow hairs toward the tip; leaves large (up to 4 metres [13 feet]), two or three times pinnately compound, the segments often deeply lobed; sori marginal, the indusium of two unequal flaps fused basally, the sporangia sometimes mixed with paraphyses, the annulus slightly oblique; spores three-angled, the surface slightly to strongly ridged, also with a prominent equatorial flange or girdle; 1 genus (Cibotium) with about 11 species, distributed in tropical regions.

      Family Dicksoniaceae (hairy tree ferns)

 Stems mostly erect and trunklike (up to 10 metres [about 33 feet]) or, less commonly, smaller, hairy near the tip and usually with a mantle of roots; leaves mostly large (up to 3.5 metres [11.5 feet]), two to three times pinnately compound, the segments sometimes deeply lobed, hairy, at least on the petioles; sori in various positions on the leaf undersurface, the sporangia on an usually short receptacle, often mixed with paraphyses, the indusium absent or unequally two-valved to cup-shaped, the annulus slightly to moderately oblique; spores variously and usually strongly ornamented on the surface but lacking an equatorial flange or girdle; 3 genera (Calochlaena, Dicksonia, and Lophosoria) with about 30 modern species, widely distributed in tropical regions but not occurring natively in Africa.

      Family Metaxyaceae

 Rhizomes not trunklike, short-creeping or ascending, somewhat flattened, hairy, at least near the tip, the relatively dense roots not forming a mantle; leaves 1–2 metres (3.3–6.6 feet) long, one time pinnately compound, the leaflets unlobed, sori scattered on the undersurface of the leaflets, round, lacking an indusium, the sporangia mixed with paraphyses, the annulus slightly oblique; spores globose, finely sculptured, lacking an equatorial flange or girdle; 1 genus and 2 species (Metaxya rostrata and M. lanosa), of low elevations in the Neotropics, particularly the Amazonian region.

      Order Polypodiales (known as Filicales in some older literature)

 

      Family Polypodiaceae (polypodies)

 Plants epiphytic, on rock, or occasionally in soil; rhizomes mostly long-creeping, sometimes somewhat flattened, scaly, the scales often clathrate (the cells with dark adjoining walls and clear lateral walls); leaves undivided or one time pinnately lobed or compound, rarely more divided, sometimes the vegetative and fertile leaves dimorphic, the petioles often jointed to short, persistent stubs (phyllopodia) along the rhizomes, the blades glabrous, hairy, or scaly; sori round or oblong to elliptic, rarely elongate or covering the undersurface, lacking indusia, but sometimes covered with overlapping scales when young; sporangia sometimes mixed with paraphyses, the annulus vertical; spores monolete (more or less bean-shaped) and often golden yellow, or trilete (more or less globose) and green; about 56 genera, including Polypodium (polypody), Lepisorus and Pleopeltis (scaly polypodies), Phlebodium (hare's foot fern), Campyloneurum (strap fern), Microgramma (vine fern), Pyrrosia (felt fern), Drynaria (oak-leaf fern), and Platycerium ( staghorn fern), with about 1,200 total species; Grammitis and some 3–15 segregate genera (about 700 species) with green trilete spores and often characteristic dark hairs formerly classified in Grammitidaceae are now considered a specialized subgroup of Polypodiaceae.

      Family Lindsaeaceae (lace ferns)

 Plants mostly in soil or on rocks; rhizomes short- to long-creeping, hairy or scaly; leaves one to three times pinnately compound, usually glabrous, sori marginal or submarginal, the indusium either lateral and opening toward the margin or the sori protected by a reflexed segment margin; sporangia with the annulus vertical; spores mostly trilete (tetrahedral-globose); about 8 genera and 200 species, distributed in tropical regions.

      Family Saccolomataceae

 Plants mostly in soil; rhizomes short-creeping to erect, sometimes appearing as short trunks, scaly; leaves one to five times pinnately compound, mostly glabrous; sori marginal or submarginal, the indusium pouchlike, opening toward the margin; sporangia with the annulus vertical; spores trilete (tetrahedral-globose); 1 genus with about 12 species, distributed in tropical regions.

      Family Dennstaedtiaceae (cup ferns, bracken)

 Plants mostly in soil, occasionally climbing; rhizomes mostly very long-creeping (to more than 100 metres [330 feet], in Pteridium), hairy; leaves two to four times pinnately compound, glabrous or hairy; sori mostly marginal or submarginal, discrete or in a more or less uninterrupted line, the indusium cup-shaped or lateral and elongate, sometimes also with the segment margin reflexed; sporangia with the annulus vertical; spores mostly trilete (tetrahedral-globose); about 11 genera with about 160 species, distributed nearly worldwide but most diverse in tropical regions.

      Family Pteridaceae

 Plants in soil, on rocks, epiphytic or aquatic; rhizomes short- to long-creeping or erect, usually scaly; leaves entire to highly divided, pinnately or, less commonly, palmately or pedately so, occasionally the vegetative and fertile leaves dimorphic (the fertile ones with reduced laminar tissue), glabrous or, more commonly, with hairs, scales, or farina (powdery white or coloured deposit); sori variously positioned, discrete, in lines or bands, or, less commonly, covering the undersurface, the indusium usually absent, but in marginal sori the segment margin often reflexed; sporangia with the annulus vertical; spores trilete (tetrahedral-globose) or, uncommonly, monolete (more or less bean-shaped); about 50 genera with about 950 species, distributed nearly worldwide. The family is quite variable morphologically and has been divided into as many as 5–8 subfamilies.

      Family Aspleniaceae

 Plants in soil, on rocks, or epiphytic; rhizomes short- to long-creeping or erect, usually scaly, the scales usually clathrate (the cells with dark adjoining walls and clear lateral walls); leaves entire or lobed to highly pinnately divided, rarely dichotomously divided, glabrous or with inconspicuous hairs, rarely scaly; sori elongate along the veins, oblong to linear, usually discrete, the indusium usually lateral; sporangia with the annulus vertical; spores monolete (more or less bean-shaped); 1–10 genera (depending on how much Asplenium is divided) with about 800 species, distributed nearly worldwide.

      Family Thelypteridaceae

 Plants in soil or, less commonly, on rocks; rhizomes short- to long-creeping or erect, scaly; leaves mostly one or two times pinnately divided, rarely highly divided, most commonly with slender needlelike hairs (these sometimes also on rhizomes, indusia, or sporangia), occasionally also with scattered scales or glabrous; sori round or elongate along the veins, the indusia absent or kidney-shaped; sporangia with the annulus vertical; spores monolete (more or less bean-shaped); 5–30 genera (depending on how much Thelypteris is divided) with 950 species, found nearly worldwide.

      Family Woodsiaceae (lady ferns (lady fern), fragile ferns)

 Plants in soil or on rocks; rhizomes short- to long-creeping or erect, scaly; leaves one to four times pinnately divided, glabrous, hairy, glandular, or occasionally scaly; sori round or elongate along the veins, sometimes back to back along a vein or curved around a vein ending (J-shaped), the indusia absent or variously linear to oblong, kidney-shaped, cup-shaped, or dissected into slender filaments; sporangia with the annulus vertical; spores monolete (more or less bean-shaped); about 15 genera with about 700 species (about 600 in two of the genera, Athyrium and Diplazium), distributed nearly worldwide.

      Family Blechnaceae (chain ferns)

 Plants in soil or on rocks, less commonly epiphytic, rarely climbing; rhizomes short- to long-creeping or erect (occasionally trunklike), scaly; leaves one time pinnately compound or lobed, less commonly two times pinnately compound, rarely entire, sometimes the vegetative and fertile leaves strongly dimorphic (the fertile ones with reduced laminar tissue), glabrous or, less commonly, hairy; sori oblong to elongate, often attached along one side of the areole formed by a network of veins, often appearing as a band or chain on each side of the segment midrib, the indusia lateral and linear to oblong, opening toward the midrib; sporangia with the annulus vertical; spores monolete (more or less bean-shaped); about 9 genera with about 200 species (about 150 in the largest genus, Blechnum), distributed nearly worldwide but most diverse in tropical regions.

      Family Onocleaceae

 Plants in soil; rhizomes short- to long-creeping or erect (occasionally trunklike in Onocleopsis), scaly, sometimes with runners; leaves strongly dimorphic, the vegetative leaves one time pinnately compound, the leaflets sometimes deeply lobed, the fertile leaves one to three times pinnately compound, with contracted laminar tissue, the margins of the segments rolling inward at maturity to enclose the sporangia, the whole leaf often becoming a brown and hardened overwintering resting structure at maturity (except in Onocleopsis), glabrous or hairy; sori round, the indusia asymmetrically cup-shaped to more or less globose, rarely absent; sporangia with the annulus vertical; spores monolete (more or less bean-shaped to globose), green; 4 genera with 5 species, distributed mostly in temperate regions (Neotropical in Onocleopsis).

      Family Dryopteridaceae

 Plants in soil, on rocks, or epiphytic; rhizomes short- to long-creeping or ascending to erect, scaly; leaves entire or one to four times pinnately divided, the vegetative and fertile leaves or leaflets occasionally dimorphic, glabrous, hairy, glandular, or scaly; sori round or densely covering the undersurface, the indusia absent or umbrella-shaped to kidney-shaped; sporangia with the annulus vertical; spores monolete (more or less bean-shaped); 45 genera with about 1,700 species, the largest genera, Dryopteris (log fern, about 250 species), Polystichum ( shield fern, about 250 species), and Elaphoglossum (tongue fern, 600–700 species), distributed nearly worldwide.

      Family Lomariopsidaceae

 Plants in soil, on rocks, or climbing (hemiepiphytic); rhizomes short- to long-creeping, sometimes with runners, scaly; leaves mostly one time pinnately compound, the leaflets often jointed to the axis, glabrous, hairy, or scaly; sori round, the indusia absent or kidney-shaped; sporangia with the annulus vertical; spores monolete (more or less bean-shaped); 4 genera with about 70 species, widely distributed in tropical regions; the best known genus Nephrolepis (sword fern) segregated into its own family, Nephrolepidaceae, by some botanists.

      Family Tectariaceae

 Plants in soil or on rocks; rhizomes mostly short-creeping or ascending, scaly; leaves undivided or one or two times pinnately compound, rarely highly divided, glabrous or hairy, the hairs often appearing minute and jointed; sori round, the indusia absent, umbrella-shaped to kidney-shaped, or dissected into slender filaments; sporangia with the annulus vertical; spores monolete (more or less bean-shaped); 8–15 genera with about 230 species widely distributed in tropical regions.

      Family Oleandraceae

 Plants in soil, on rock, or climbing (hemiepiphytic); rhizomes long-creeping, sometimes with elongate, ascending, or climbing branches, scaly; leaves undivided, the petioles jointed to short, persistent stubs (phyllopodia) along the rhizomes, the blades scaly; sori round, the indusia kidney-shaped to nearly U-shaped; sporangia mixed with hairlike paraphyses, the annulus vertical; spores monolete (more or less bean-shaped); 1 genus (Oleandra) with about 40 species, widely distributed, mostly in tropical regions.

      Family Davalliaceae

 Plants epiphytic or sometimes on rocks; rhizomes long-creeping, often somewhat flattened, scaly; leaves one to four times pinnately divided, rarely undivided, the petioles jointed at their bases, the blades glabrous or, less commonly, hairy; sori round, rarely elongate along the segment margin, the indusia cup-shaped or kidney-shaped, rarely elongate; sporangia mixed with hairlike paraphyses, the annulus vertical; spores monolete (more or less bean-shaped); 4 or 5 genera, including Davallia (rabbit's-foot fern), with about 65 species, distributed in tropical and warm-temperate regions.

Critical appraisal

      The classification of ferns has been in a state of flux over the past several decades, but advances in molecular data have resulted in the first phylogenetically based system of classification at the family, order, and class levels. Within some families, the circumscription of genera remains controversial.

      The division Pteridophyta comprises the ferns and contains four classes of vascular plants that reproduce by spores without the production of seeds. In addition to class Polypodiopsida (the true ferns as traditionally understood), the divison includes the classes Equisetopsida, Marattiopsida, and Psilotopsida, which in some earlier classifications were considered “fern allies” (an expression that has fallen out of favour) rather than true ferns. Lycopodiophyta (club moss), or lycophytes (lycophyte), consisting of three families, Lycopodiaceae (club mosses (club moss)), Isoëtaceae (quillworts (quillwort)), and Selaginellaceae (spike mosses (spike moss)), formerly included in the fern allies, are now considered the most primitive vascular plants and only distantly related to the ferns.

Warren F. Walker, Jr. John T. Mickel George Yatskievych

Additional Reading

F.O. Bower, The Ferns (Filicales): Treated Comparatively with a View to Their Natural Classification, 3 vol. (1923–28), is a classic work of comparative morphology and systematics that emphasizes the need, now being realized, for a broad spectrum of comparative data. A comprehensive summary of paleobotanical knowledge is provided in Thomas N. Taylor and Edith L. Taylor, The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants (1993). The American Fern Society and the British Pteridological Society assemble the record of current research in the field in their publications American Fern Journal (quarterly); Fiddlehead Forum (bimonthly); The Fern Gazette (annual); and Pteridologist (annual).The abundance and diversity of pteridophytes are the focus of Hermann Christ, Die Geographie der Farne (1910), still an important broad treatment of fern distribution. John T. Mickel, How to Know the Ferns and Fern Allies (1979), the first manual to cover all of North America, with keys, brief descriptions, and illustrations. Flora of North America Editorial Committee (eds.), Flora of North America, North of Mexico, vol. 2, Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms (1993), treats the diversity of ferns and fern allies in the United States, Canada, and Greenland, with keys, descriptions, maps, and drawings. Rolla M. Tryon and Alice F. Tryon, Ferns and Allied Plants (1982), is a good summary of the genera of tropical American pteridophytes with descriptions, maps, discussions, and many illustrations. John T. Mickel and Joseph M. Beitel, Pteridophyte Flora of Oaxaca, Mexico (1988), provides a well-illustrated and informative pteridophyte manual for a Latin American region. R.E. Holttum, A Revised Flora of Malaya: An Illustrated Systematic Account of the Malayan Flora, Including Commonly Cultivated Plants, vol. 2, Ferns of Malaya (1954), offers a well-illustrated enumeration and description of ferns that presents many of the author's ideas of systematic relationship.Life cycle and habitats are discussed in A.F. Dyer, The Experimental Biology of Ferns (1979), a series of essays on ecology, cytogenetics, reproduction, chemistry, and development; A.F. Dyer and Christopher N. Page (eds.), Biology of Pteridophytes (1985), a collection of symposium papers on a broad range of topics; F. Gordon Foster, Ferns to Know and Grow, 3rd rev. ed. (1984), a well-known book of horticulture with many helpful tips on cultivation; Barbara Joe Hoshizaki, Fern Growers Manual, rev. and expanded ed. (2001), a good introduction to horticulture with encyclopaedic information on the species in cultivation; and Christopher N. Page, Ferns: Their Habitats in the British and Irish Landscape (1988), with excellent illustrations of habitats and ecology.Studies of form and function include K.R. Sporne, The Morphology of Pteridophytes: The Structure of Ferns and Allied Plants, 4th ed. (1975), a concise summary of ideas on fern structure; B.K. Nayar and S. Kaur, “Gametophytes of Homosporous Ferns,” The Botanical Review 37:295–396 (1971), is a thorough summation of the knowledge of the haploid generation of ferns, with an extensive bibliography; John T. Mickel, Ferns for American Gardens (1994), is a useful compilation of information on fern morphology, diversity, and cultivation; and Lenore W. May, “The Economic Uses and Associated Folklore of Ferns and Fern Allies,” The Botanical Review 44(4):491–528 (October 1978), a summary of the diverse uses to which ferns have been put.For the origin and evolution of ferns and fern allies, see I. Manton, Problems of Cytology and Evolution in the Pteridophyta (1950), a milestone in the biology of ferns containing, for the first time, accurate data on chromosomes in relation to evolution and systematics; and J.D. Lovis, “Evolutionary Patterns and Processes in Ferns,” Advances in Botanical Research 4:229–439 (1977), an outstanding summary of the knowledge of fern phylogeny and classification. Also see appropriate sections of Robert F. Scagel et al., An Evolutionary Survey of the Plant Kingdom (1965); Ernest M. Gifford and Adriance S. Foster, Morphology and Evolution of Vascular Plants, 3rd ed. (1989); and David W. Bierhorst, Morphology of Vascular Plants (1971), which provides detailed treatments of vascular plants together with theory and interpretation. Paul Kenrick and Peter R. Crane, The Origin and Early Diversification of Land Plants (1997), summarizes modern views on the evolution of the major lineages of land plants.Nomenclature for the taxonomy of pteridophytes is provided in Edwin Bingham Copeland, Genera Filicum: The Genera of Ferns (1947), a valuable treatment of the classification and characteristics of ferns, containing many of the author's original correlations. K.U. Kramer and P.S. Green (eds.), Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms (1990), is the only modern comprehensive summary of pteridophyte classification. Other works on classification include R.L. Hauke, “The Taxonomy of Equisetum: An Overview,” New Botanist 1:89–95 (1974); and Benjamin Øllgaard, “A Revised Classification of the Lycopodiaceae s. lat.,” Opera Botanica 92:153–178 (1987), a clear, detailed discussion of the taxonomic characters, genera, and species groups of the family, and Index of the Lycopodiaceae (1989), a listing of all the names, references, and type (original) specimens.Warren H. Wagner, Jr. Ernest M. Gifford John T. Mickel

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