Ferns & Horsetails

Ferns and allies consist of about 10,5600 species world wide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016)and are often found in shady habitats. They are more closely related to seed plants than to Lycophytes despite their sharing ancestral life-cycle features with Lycophytes. Most of our native ferns have have divided or compound leaves (fronds) that grow from rhizomes (underground stems). Stem vascular bundles are arranged in a Siphonostele. Developing leaves are coiled like the scroll of a violin and are called 'fiddleheads'. Sporangia are borne in aggregations (sori) on the leaf undersurface or in some species on specialized fertile fronds that are diferent in appearence from the vegetative leaves. Horsetails (Equisetaceae), have unbranched or branched green, jointed aerial stems with small scale-like leaves and bear their sporangia on cone-like stobili. Despite their different appearence, horsetails arose from within the fern lineage. To browse, select the desired family in the menu on the left.