Ferns and fern allies are a paraphyletic assemblage traditionally used in pteridology to group vascular plants that reproduce via spores and lack seeds and flowers, including true ferns (monilophytes) and historically associated lineages such as lycophytes, horsetails, and whisk ferns. As a topic, it encompasses comparative morphology (e.g., fronds, rhizomes, sporangia, strobili), life cycle biology with free-living gametophytes, vascular anatomy, systematics and phylogenomics of early-diverging tracheophytes, and their roles in ecology and paleoecology. Modern research emphasizes resolving phylogenetic relationships and revising classifications to reflect monophyletic groups rather than the artificial “fern allies” category.
Passing on fundamental life lessons from parent to offspring is not unique to humans and animals. Ferns do it too. Not with words, but through pressure. By applying force at precisely the right locations, a fern tells its ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 20, 2026
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Ferns, defined by large genomes, high chromosome counts, and pervasive aneuploidy as well as intraspecific polyploid complexity, diverge significantly from the classical genetic theories and analytical frameworks largely ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 3, 2026
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There are few forms of the botanical world as readily identifiable as fern leaves. These often large, lacy fronds lend themselves nicely to watercolor paintings and tricep tattoos alike. Thoreau said it best: "Nature made ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 25, 2025
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Land plants—such as mosses, ferns and trees—are some of the most structurally complex photosynthesizing organisms on Earth. But their evolutionary story is deeply tied to their ancestors: simpler green algae that lived hundreds ...
Evolution
Nov 3, 2025
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Research by Assistant Professor Jacob S. Suissa at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is revealing complexity in how ferns have evolved. Instead of the vascular structure inside fern stems changing as a direct adaptation ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 27, 2025
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Plants and microbes often have a symbiotic relationship, relying on each other for nutrients or shelter. Understanding and engineering such symbioses is an essential step in the journey toward tackling global challenges such ...
Ecology
Aug 18, 2025
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130
The African Plant Database lists 65,000 species of flowering plants, ferns and conifers found on the African continent and Madagascar. Since 2006, every plant species ever documented in Africa and Madagascar has been included ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 10, 2025
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Imagine a lush forest with tree-ferns, their trunks capped by ribbon-like fronds. Conifers tower overhead, bearing triangular leaves almost sharp enough to pierce skin. Flowering plants are both small and rare.
Ecology
Jun 17, 2025
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