• Ferns, of which there are now about 12000 species, have been on our planet for more than 300 million years in the Carboniferous Period (about 369-280 million years ago), they grew abundantly; the period was known as the ‘Age of Ferns’. Most ferns of this period became extinct but, later, some evolved into our modern ferns.
• Ferns are unlike other plants and have complex structures. What we think of as leaves is arbitrarily called the ‘frond’. It is divided into two main parts, the stipe (leaf stalk of petiole) and the blade (the leaf-like part).
• Unlike leaves that arise from stems, fronds arise from rhizomes. Rhizomes are also not uniform in size or character. Sometimes they can be inconspicuous of even underground and at other times, may even row to 36 ft in height and 2ft in diameter, as in the case of some tree ferns.
• Ferns are plants that do not produce seed, but propagate through dust – like ‘spores’. Sporangia, small capsules found on the underside of fronds, produce spores. Spores contain oil droplets and sometimes chlorophyll. In addition to their nucleus. Ferns drop millions often times billions of spores during their lifetime, but very few ever land in a spot suitable for growth.
The spore that is fortunate enough to find the right conditions then starts to grow by cell division. It forms green heart-shaped plants that measure about half an inch and lie flat on the soil. They then grow male and female organs on their undersides. The male organ produces spermatazoids, which will swim via a droplet of water to the egg produced by the female organ. The fertilized egg then grows into a ferns.

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