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6.2: Ferns and Horsetails

  • Page ID
    35336
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    Characteristics of Ferns and Horsetails

    • Megaphylls. Leaves have branching veins of vascular tissue.
    • Rhizomes. Asexual propogation of the sporophyte through underground stems.
    • Homospory. Haploid spores grow into bisexual gametophytes that produce both antheridia and archegonia. Note: There is an order of aquatic ferns (Salviniales, to which the water fern genus Azolla belongs) that are heterosporous.
    A young fern gametophtye
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): A fern gametophyte. The heart-shaped thallus has many long, thin rhizoids protruding from it. Photo by Curtis Clark, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.


    This page titled 6.2: Ferns and Horsetails is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Maria Morrow (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative) .

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