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