Fern Morphology

This semester I’m so exited to be taking Biology of Ferns, where we’re learning about Morphology, Sterile Hybrids, Polyploids, Apomixis, Biogeography, and Phylogeny of Ferns. I’ve always loved ferns, especially the Rocky Mountain Cliff Fern (Woodsia scopulina) that lives in rock crevices and one day I plan on getting a tattoo of said fern. Ferns are fascinating in their structure, diversity, and ancient roots. Ferns have been around for hundreds of millions of years and are some of the earliest diverting land plants. One local Vermont fern, Osmunda cinnamonia or cinnamon fern, was alive during the Triassic, making it a living fossil! Ferns are still evolving and undergoing rapid hybridization, as almost any two ferns within the same genus are able to hybridize and often hybrids can occur between different families as well! Crazy. Anyways, I thought I’d share some of my notes thus far from class, the terminonology may be a bit confusing but if nothing else I hope you at least enjoy the art and aesthetic!