The Seedless Vascular Pants:
Ferns and Their Relatives
Chapter 21
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Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Outline
Phylum Psilotophyta (Whisk Ferns)
Phylum Lycophyta (Club Mosses)
Phylum Equisetophyta (Horsetails)
Phylum Polypodiophyta (Ferns)
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Phylum Psilotophyta
The Whisk Ferns
Loosely resemble small, green whisk
brooms.
Structure and Form
- Sporophytes consist almost entirely of
dichotomously forking aerial stems.
Have neither leaves nor roots.
Enations spirally arranged along
stems.
Life Cycle:
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Phylum Lycophyta
Ground Pines, Spike Mosses, and Quillworts
Collectively called club mosses.
- Only two living representatives of two
major genera.
Lycopodium
Selaginella
Sporophytes have microphylls.
Have true roots and stems.
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Phylum Lycophyta
Lycopodium - Ground Pines
Often grow on forest floors.
Resemble little Christmas trees, complete
with cones.
Stems are simple or branched.
- Develop from branching rhizomes.
Reproduction
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Phylum Lycophyta
Selaginella - Spike Mosses
Especially abundant in tropics.
Branch more freely than ground pines.
Leaves have a ligule on upper surface.
Produce two different kinds of spores and
gametophytes (heterospory).
Reproduction
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Phylum Lycophyta
Isoetes - Quillworts
Most found in areas partially submerged in
water, and least part of the year.
Microphylls are arranged in a tight spiral on
a stubby stem.
Ligules occur towards leaf base.
Corms have vascular cambium.
Reproduction
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Phylum Equisetophyta
The Horsetails and Scouring Rushes
Structure and Form
- About 25 species scattered through all
continents.
- Significant silica deposits accumulate on
the inner walls of the stems epidermal
cells.
- Branches, when present, are normally in
whorls at regular intervals along the
jointed stems.
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Phylum Equisetophyta
Both branched and unbranched species have
tiny microphylls in whorls at the nodes.
Leaves fused at their base forming a collar.
Stems are distinctly ribbed and have obvious
nodes and internodes.
Pith breaks down at maturity leaving a
hollow central canal.
Aerial stems develop from horizontal
rhizomes.
Reproduction
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Phylum Equisetophyta
Human and Ecological Relevance
Many giant horsetails used for food.
Scouring rush stems used for scouring and
sharpening.
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Phylum Polypodiophyta
The Ferns
Structure and Forms
- Approximately 11,000 known species of
ferns vary in size from tiny floating forms
less than 1 cm to giant tropical tree ferns
up to 25 m tall.
Fern leaves are megaphylls that are
commonly referred to as fronds.
Typically divided into smaller
segments.
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Spore Release From a Fern Sporangium
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Phylum Polypodiophyta
Human and Ecological Relevance
Extremely popular house plants.
- Serve as air filters.
Cooked rhizomes serve as food.
Folk Medicine
Fronds used in thatching houses.
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th
Review
Phylum Psilotophyta (Whisk Ferns)
Phylum Lycophyta (Club Mosses)
Phylum Equisetophyta (Horsetails)
Phylum Polypodiophyta (Ferns)
Stern - Introductory Plant Biology: 9th