FERNS OF PAKISTAN | FERNS | SUBMINTED TO: Ma’M UZMA HANIFSUBMITTED BY: AYESHA SULTANAROLL NO: 072-BH-BOT-11SUBJECT: VASCULAER PLANTSDEPARTMENT: BOTANYGOVERNMENT COLLEGE UNIVERSITY LAHORE | |

CONTENT: * INTRODUCTION TO FERNS * PARTS OF FERNS AND THEIR NAMES * LIFE CYCLE * LIFE CYCLE OF A TYPICAL FERN * CLASSIFICATION OF FERNS * A CONTRIBUTION TO THE TAXONOMIC STUDY OF FERN * FLORA OF PUNJAB, PAKISTAN * Family: Dennstaedtiaceae * Family: Sinopteridaceae * Family: Cryptogrammaceae * Family: Pteridaceae * Family: Adiantaceae * Family: Oleandraceae * Family: Dryopteridaceae * Family: Thelypteridaceae * Family: Athyriaceae * Family: Aspleniaceae * Family: Marsileaceae * Family: Salviniaceae * Family: Azollaceae * A FIELD SURVEY OF MYCORRHIZAL ASSOCIATIONS IN FERNS OF PAKISTAN * Morpho-Palynological Studies On The Angiospermic Fern * Cyrtomium Cyrotideum C. Chr; (Syn: Polystichium * Falcatum). * SOME TOP FERNS TO GROW AS HOUSE PLANTS: * Crocodile Fern * Lemon Button Fern * Maidenhair Fern * Rabbit's-Foot Fern * Staghorn Fern * Bird's Nest Fern * Silver Brake Fern * Kangaroo Paw Fern * Boston Fern * Reffernces

FERNS OF PAKISTAN.

INTRODUCTION:

A fern is any one or more of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem (making them vascular plants). They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants. Ferns reproduce viaspores and have neither seeds nor flowers. Most ferns have what are called fiddleheads. The fiddleheads expand into what are called fronds, which are each delicately divided.
Ferns first appear in the fossil record in the early-Carboniferous period. By the Triassic, the first evidence of ferns related to several modern families appeared. The "great fern radiation" occurred in the late-Cretaceous, when many modern families of ferns first appeared.By far the largest group of ferns is the leptosporangiate ferns, but ferns as defined here (also called monilophytes) include horsetails, whisk ferns,marattioid ferns, and ophioglossoid ferns. The term pteridophyte traditionally refers to ferns and a few other seedless vascular plants (see classification section below), although some recent authors have used the term to refer strictly to the monilophytes. Ferns first appear in the fossil record 360 million years ago in the Carboniferous but many of the current families and species did not appear until roughly 145 million years ago in the early Cretaceous (after flowering plants came to dominate many environments).
Ferns are not of major economic importance, but some are grown or gathered for food, as ornamental plants, for remediating contaminated soils, and have been the subject of research for their ability to remove some chemical pollutants from the air. Some are significant weeds. They also play a role in mythology, medicine, and art.
Ferns are a very ancient family of plants: early fern fossils predate the beginning of the Mesozoic era, 360 million years ago. They are older than land animals and far older than the dinosaurs. They were thriving on Earth for two hundred million years before the flowering plants evolved.
As we know them now, most ferns are leafy plants that grow in moist areas under forest canopy. They are "vascular plants" with well-developed internal vein structures that promote the flow of water and nutrients. Unlike the other vascular plants, the flowering plants and conifers, where the adult plant grows immediately from the seed, ferns reproduce from spores and an intermediate plant stage called a gametophyte.
The first is that ferns are (relatively) delicate plants that only grow in areas where there are suitably moist conditions. They favour sheltered areas under the forest canopy, along creeks and streams and other sources of permanent moisture. They cannot grow readily in hot dry areas like flowering plants and conifers.

PARTS OF FERN AND THEIR NAMES:
The leafy branch of the fern is usually called a frond. The small leaflets that make up the whole frond are called pinnae.If you look underneath a fern frond, you will often see small clumps, spots or patches that look like they are stuck onto the under surface of thepinnae. These patches are where you find the spores. The spores grow inside casings called sporangia. The sporangia may clump together into what are called sori (singular: sorus). Photo (A) below shows sporangiaclumped into sori on a Kangaroo Fern frond. Sometimes these sori follow the fern leaf veins, sometimes they are set into indentations in the underside of the pinna. Not every frond has spores under it: fronds that have the spores are called fertile fronds.
Take a look more closely at the spore structures under the pinnae of a fertile frond, using a hand lens. In some cases, you will see that each is composed of myriads of smaller structures. These are the sporangia - the spore casings that hold the spores. Some ferns protect their sporangiawith thin semi-transparent membranes, often globular in shape, calledindusia. Inside the indusium (if there is one) there are the sporangia.Photo (B) below shows open indusia on a Soft Tree Fern frond.
Other ferns don’t have the indusium, the sporangia are open to the outside world. The sporangia are usually tiny - maybe half a millimetre (one fiftieth of an inch) across. The spores of course are even smaller.Sometimes the sporangia are tucked under a curled-over part of the margin of the pinna. Photo (C) shows this effect on the underside of a Maidenhair Fern. If you take a piece of mature fertile fern frond and place it face up inside a book - or on a piece of paper under a weight - so that the spore material is on the underneath of the frond , then leave it overnight, you’re likely to find the next day that the spores have been released as a fine coloured powder onto the paper. They show up as a fine pattern tracing the form of the fern frond. They can be black, brown, reddish, yellow or even green, but they are extremely small. Each of these spores is capable - through a circuitous process - of growing into an adult fern.
LIFE CYCLE:
Ferns are vascular plants differing from lycophytes by having true leaves (megaphylls), which are often pinnate. They differ from seed plants(gymnosperms and angiosperms) in their mode of reproduction—lacking flowers and seeds. Like all other vascular plants, they have a life cycle referred to as alternation of generations, characterized by alternating diploid sporophytic and haploid gametophytic phases. The diploid sporophyte has 2n pairedchromosomes, where n varies from species to species. The haploid gametophyte has n unpaired chromosomes, i.e. half the number of the sporophyte. The gametophyte of ferns is a free-living organism, whereas the gametophyte of the gymnosperms and angiosperms is dependent on the sporophyte.
Life cycle of a typical fern: 1. A diploid sporophyte phase produces haploid spores by meiosis (a process of cell division which reduces the number of chromosomes by a half). 2. A spore grows into a haploid gametophyte by mitosis (a process of cell division which maintains the number of chromosomes). The gametophyte typically consists of a photosynthetic prothallus. 3. The gametophyte produces gametes (often both sperm and eggs on the same prothallus) by mitosis. 4. A mobile, flagellate sperm fertilizes an egg that remains attached to the prothallus. 5. The fertilized egg is now a diploid zygote and grows by mitosis into a diploid sporophyte (the typical "fern" plant).

CLASSIFICATION OF FERNS:
One problem with fern classification is the problem of cryptic species. A cryptic species is a species that is morphologically similar to another species, but differs genetically in ways that prevent fertile interbreeding. A good example of this is the currently designated species Asplenium trichomanes, the maidenhair spleenwort. This is actually a species complex that includes distinct diploid and tetraploid races. There are minor but unclear morphological differences between the two groups, which prefer distinctly differing habitats. In many cases such as this, the species complexes have been separated into separate species, thus raising the number of overall fern species. Possibly many more cryptic species are yet to be discovered and designated.
Ferns have traditionally been grouped in the Class Filices, but modern classifications assign them their own phylum or division in the plant kingdom, called Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta. The group is also referred to as Polypodiophyta, (or Polypodiopsida when treated as a subdivision of tracheophyta (vascular plants), although Polypodiopsida sometimes refers to only the leptosporangiate ferns). The term "pteridophyte" has traditionally been used to describe all seedless vascular plants, making it synonymous with "ferns and fern allies". This can be confusing since members of the fern phylum Pteridophyta are also sometimes referred to as pteridophytes.
Traditionally, three discrete groups of plants have been considered ferns: two groups of eusporangiate ferns—families Ophioglossaceae (adders-tongues, moonworts, and grape-ferns) andMarattiaceae—and the leptosporangiate ferns. The Marattiaceae are a primitive group of tropical ferns with a large, fleshy rhizome, and are now thought to be a sibling taxon to the main group of ferns, the leptosporangiate ferns. Several other groups of plants were considered "fern allies": the clubmosses, spikemosses, and quillworts in the Lycopodiophyta, the whisk ferns in Psilotaceae, and the horsetails in the Equisetaceae. More recent genetic studies have shown that the Lycopodiophyta are more distantly related to other vascular plants, having radiated evolutionarily at the base of the vascular plant clade, while both the whisk ferns and horsetails are as much "true" ferns as are the Ophioglossoids and Marattiaceae. In fact, the whisk ferns and Ophioglossoids are demonstrably a clade, and the horsetails and Marattiaceae are arguably another clade. Molecular data—which remain poorly constrained for many parts of the plants' phylogeny — have been supplemented by recent morphological observations supporting the inclusion of Equisetaceae within the ferns, notably relating to the construction of their sperm, and peculiarities of their roots.[2]However, there are still differences of opinion about the placement of the Equisetum species (see Equisetopsida for further discussion). One possible means of treating this situation is to consider only the leptosporangiate ferns as "true" ferns, while considering the other three groups as "fern allies". In practice, numerous classification schemes have been proposed for ferns and fern allies, and there has been little consensus among them.

A 2006 classification by Smith et al. is based on recent molecular systematic studies, in addition to morphological data. Their phylogeny is a consensus of a number of studies. This phylogeny has been refined in more recent years,[7][8] and is shown below (to the level of orders)

Their classification based on this phylogeny divides extant ferns into four classes: * Psilotopsida (whisk ferns and ophioglossoid ferns), about 92 species[10] * Equisetopsida (horsetails), about 15 species[10] * Marattiopsida, about 150 species[10] * Polypodiopsida (leptosporangiate ferns), over 9000 species[10]
Last group:
The last group includes most plants familiarly known as ferns. Modern research supports older ideas based on morphology that the Osmundaceae diverged early in the evolutionary history of the leptosporangiate ferns; in certain ways this family is intermediate between the eusporangiate ferns and the leptosporangiate ferns. Research by Rai and Graham since this 2006 classification broadly supports the division into four groups, but queries their relationships, concluding that "at present perhaps the best that can be said about all relationships among the major lineages of monilophytes in current studies is that we do not understand them very well
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE TAXONOMIC STUDY OF FERN
FLORA OF PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Family: Dennstaedtiaceae

1. Microlepia strigosa(Thunb.) Presl Plate 1 Rhizome creeping, covered by brown hairs, stipe densely hairy towards the base, 25-55 cm long; lamina 40-80 cm long, bipinnate to tripinnatifid, ovate, the lower 1-2 pairs of pinnae somewhat reduced, pinnules upto 3 cm long, herbaceous, rachis densely short to hairy; pinnules touching each other or slightly overlapping at their lobes, oblong, sessile, usually dentate; veins free, slightly raised below, bearing stiff curved hairs, less raised above bearing scattered hairs, indusia broadly half-cup shaped, marginal, tomentose.

Family: Sinopteridaceae

Cheilanthes pteridioides (Reich.) C. Chr. Rhizome short, decumbent to erect, stipes tufted, covered with reddish brown linear scales; fronds 5 to 7 cm long, upto 2 cm broad, bi to tripinnatifid, pinnae small, cut down to rachis; rachis scaly, both surfaces of lamina green and glabrous; sori linear, submarginal; indusium membranous with dentate margins.

2.C. farinosaKaulf.

Rhizome short, erect, tufted; frond upto 20 cm long, 7cm wide, monomorphic, subcoriaceous, deltoidly lanceolate, glabrous; stipe more or less elongated, tufted, polished, deciduous scaly; lamina unipinnate to pinnatifid at apex, lanceolate; basiscopic pinnae of the basal pinnae larger than the upper ones, papery, greenish above, white to yellowish powdery beneath; pinnae 3 to 12 pairs; veins free, forking; sori along the margins or sub-marginal, linear, covered by enrolled margins of the segments, brown, scariose, entire or toothed margins; false indusium, continuous along the margins; spores trilete, echinate.

3.C. albomarginata Clarke

Rhizome with tufts of hair pointed scales; stipes upto 25 cm long, shorter or longer than frond, glabrous, reddish brown, shiny, furnished particularly below and when young with lanceolate white margined scales; Frond bipinnatisect to bipinnate, deltoid to deltoid lanceolate, rachis and costae black shiny, costae somewhat covered with white powder, lower surface of lamina covered with white waxy powder, pinnae sessile, opposite, lower pair of pinnae half deltoid and with their lower pinnules much more developed than the others; sori continuous along the margins; indusia minute to absent or lacerate; sporangia dark brown at maturity, lower surface of costae and veins scaly.

Family: Cryptogrammaceae

1. Onychium japonicum (Thunb.) Kunze

Rhizome creeping, scaly; stipe tufted, 8-26 cm long, stramineous, straw coloured or pale brown, glabrous; lamina 12-18 inches long, ovate, tri to quadripinnate; lower pinnae lanceolate-deltoid; pinnules and segments numerous, usually deltoid, much coriaceous; rachis and both surfaces naked; indusium pale; membranaceous, ripe mass of sporaniga deep brown.

2.O. contiguumC. Hope

All the characters are like O. japonicumbut the differ lies in the stipe which is rather longer and black at the base; lamina rather small, finally dissected and broadly ovate, less coriaceous; sorishort upto 3 mm long.

Family: Pteridaceae

1. Pellaea nitidula Wall. ex Baker

Rhizome short creeping, stout; stipe upto 8 cm long, very numerous and crowded on rhizome, deciduous dark brown scales on rhizome and rachis; frond upto 10 cm long, subdeltoid to oblong, coriaceous, shining beneath, glabrous, pinnae opposite, pinnatifid-bipinnately Compound, broad-lanceolate, dimidiate, deeply pinnatifid near to rachis, lobes all oblong, entire, apex obtuse to acute, sori continuous and submarginal covered by indusium which may be continuous or interrupted, broad, flat, membranaceous, brown; spores trilete, tetrahedral.

2. Pteris cretica L.

Short creeping or erect rhizome, covered with small and dark scales; stipe of sterile frond upto 35 cm long, 10-20 cm broad, slender; lamina upto 25 cm long; unipinnate and basal pinnae forked; lateral pinnae 1-3 opposite sessile pairs, lower pinnae short stalked, 1.5-2 cm broad, terminal pinna upto 18cm long, subcoriaceous, glabrous, margins serrate; fertile frond somewhat narrower and much longer than sterile ones; sori submarginal covered by a continuous thin membranous flap; sporaniga brown; spores trilete.

3. P. vittataL.

Rhizome short, stout, erect, densely scaly, pale brown scales; fronds clustered, stipe green to pale brown, upto 35 cm or more high, blade oblaneceolate, unipinnate, rachis not winged, pinnae numerous, closely spaced to overlapping distally, pinnae 2-20 cm long by 1cm broad, base not auricled, asymmetrically cordate to oblique or truncate, subopposite to alternate, hairy, sessile, margins serrulate when sterile, apex acute to acuminate; veins free, forked; sori continuous along the margins of pinnae, narrow, pinnae sterile from the base and apex.

Family: Adiantaceae

1. Adiantum capillus-veneris L.

Small to medium sized fern, medium to short creeping rhizome; densely scaly; stipes 5-23 cm long, black, polished; lamina 11-23 cm long fronds in loose clusters; blade 2-4 pinnate, herbaceous, pinnules variable in size, mostly wedge shaped upto 2.5 cm broad, base cuneate, outer margins incised, glabrous, light green; sori elliptic to linear, placed in roundish sinuses on each lobe, indusia oblong and entire, spore trilete.

2. A. caudatum L. Plate 2

Small to medium sized fern, short and erect rhizome; distinctive pendent fronds upto 50 cm long that arch downward; stipe 4-17 cm long, dark brown densely covered with brown-reddish spreading hairs; lamina 13-34 cm long, unipinnate, upper pinnae are smaller than the lower ones, dimidiate, sessile to sub-sessile, deeply lobed, both surfaces covered with hairs; sori oblong, on the apices of lobes.

3. A. venustum G. Don Plate 2

Small fern, medium to short creeping rhizome; triangular blade; upto 3 pinnate, obovate segments, margins dentate to serrate; sori reniform, generally 2 per segment.

4. A. trapeziforme L. Plate 2

Medium sized fern, short creeping rhizome; blade triangular upto 3 pinnate with a terminal pinna similar to lateral ones; segments trapeziform and stalked, pinnule upto 5 cm long; size of petiolule upto 1.7 cm, margins lobed or incised, sori oblong.

Family: Oleandraceae

1. Nephrolepis biserrata (Sw.) Schott

Caudex short, erect; stipe upto 50 cm, tufted, erect,stout, glabrous except at base, shining; basal scalesnarrowly lanceolate; lamina unipinnate, 1-2 m long ormore; pinane lanceolate, 8-18 cm long, 1.5-2 cm wide,cuneate at the base, apex acuminate, truncate or rounded atthe base; basal pairs of pinnae gradually shortened; marginsminutely serrulate, teeth remote; veins free, forked, endingin hydathodes near margin; rachis glabrous or nearly so;sori round; indusia round, sinus narrow; spores monolete.

2. N. cordifolia (L.) Presl

Tubers often found on roots; stipes tufted, 5-15 cm long, brown and greenish; fronds 30-60 cm long, taper towards tip and base, unipinntae, bases of pinna overlap, each pinna divided by its midrib into two clear unequal portions, rachis grooved, scaly above; pinnae sessile, unequal at base, auricle acute, articulate to rachis, glabrous on both surfaces; lower pinnae obtuse, gradually shortened, upper pinnae soriferous, 4 cm long, less acute to bluntly rounded apex, margins crenate; sori round, medial to submarginal; indusia lunate to reniform with open sinus; spores monolete.

3. N. exaltata (L.) Schott

Rhizome scales spreading, tubers absent, Stipe sparsely to moderate scaly or subglabrous, brownish, lamina glabrous 1 ft or more long, rachis and costa paleacous or often sub glabrous, fronds subcoriaceous, oblong to lanceolate, pinnate, pinnae 3-7 cm long, oblong more or less acuminated with a broad truncated or subcordate base, with a sharp auricle above and sometimes below the margin serratulate, apex acute; sori almost quite marginal present in a row on both sides of costa upto the end of base, indusia reniform with a broad sinus, spores monolete. Family: Dryopteridaceae 1. Cyrtomium caryotideum (Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.) C. Presl

Rhizome short, erect; stipes 25-30 cm long, densly scaly at base, scales dark brown; lamina 30-35 cm long, imparipinnate; pinnae 2-6 pairs, short stalked, ovate to lanceolate, cuminate, acute to obtuse at base, auriculate on the upper side or both sides, margins minutely or sharply serrate, terminal pinna largest; sori scattered; indusia peltate, serrulate.

2. C. falcatum (L. f.) Presl Plate 2

Rhizome short, erect, densly scaly; stipes 10-30 cm long, densely scaly at base; lamina 15-40 cm long, 1-20 cm broad, oblong to lanceolate, imparipinnate; pinnae 6-14 pairs, ovate to falcate, long to attenuate towards apex, short stalked, glabrous, coriaceous, margin thickened, entire or undulate or coarsely and irregularly dentate; sori round, scattered; indusia peltate, brown at maturity, persistent, entire.

3. C. macrophyllum (Makino) Tagawa

Rhizome erect, scaly, frond 70 cm high, 30 cm wide, Pinnae 13-14 cm long, 3-4 cm broad, 2-8 pair, oblong to lanceolate, caudate to acuminate at the apex, broadly cuneate to rounded at the base, margins minutely serrate, glabrous, terminal pinna usually large sized; sori many, round, scattered on lower surface of pinnae; indusium peltate, falling early.

4. Dryopteris ramosa (Hope) C. Chr. Rhizome creeping, covered with large acuminate brown scales; stipe upto 10 cm long, straw colouerd or plae brown with basal scales light brown; fronds upto 35 cm long, upto 30 cm broad, bipinnate, tripinnate in lower region, rachis light brown or light green somewhat scaly, grooved continuous with costae; pinnae 16 to 30 pairs, pinnules 12 to 20 pairs, long and narrow, margins of pinnae incised, apex round with serrations; sori round, commonly lacking on the basal 2 to 3 pairs of pinnae, sporangia rusty to dark brown, indusia reniform attached from the sinus; spores monolete, echinate.

5. D. stewartii Fraser-Jenkins

Medium large fern, rhizome erect, stipes one fourth of the frond length, grooved, dark brown scales; blades triangular to lanceolate and bipinnate to pinnatifid with 12 to 22 pairs of pinnae, upto 15cm long, costae continuously grooved with rachis, lowest pinnae anadromic, slightly pinnatifid at base; pinnule upto 2cm, serrate or often bear spine tipped teeth, margins round to acute with dentation or serration; sori round, medial, covered with kidney shaped indusia; sporangia brown; spores monolete, echinate, ellipsoidal.

6. Polystichum aculeatum (L.) Roth

Medium sized fern; rhizome erect, stout, branched; fronds upto 30 cm high by 9 cm wide; stipe grooved, large and small reddish brown scales, hair like at tips of rachis; blade bipinnate, lanceolate, lamina glabrous above, but a few sparse hairs or scales below; pinnae 25 SUNDAS ILTAF ET AL., to 38 pairs, subopposite, curving upward, lower pinnae almost half the length of middle pinnae, first pinnule on the upper side of each pinnae is generally larger than the others, all pinnules have an outward pointing lobe with spiny tip, costae grooved but not continuous with rachis, margins spiny; veins free, forked; sori round on each side of the costa in one row between midrib and margin, mostly on upper half of the blade; indusium peltate, at maturity shriveled upward to look like an inverted umbrella, persistent; sporangia dark brown to black at maturity; spores monolete.

7. P. lonchitis (L.) Roth

Rhizome tufted, erect, scales variable in shape, ovate to lanceolate, pale brown; blade linear to lanceolate, stipe 1/8 the length of frond, slightly covered with pale straw coloured scales; unipinnate, with 25 to 38 or more pinnae, tapering from middle to upper and lower pinnae, acroscopic pinnae auricled, rarely overlapping, somewhat curved upward, margins serrulate to spiny with spreading teeth, apex acute to mucronate; veins free; only upper half of the frond fertile, sori mediate, round, covered by peltate indusium, sporangia dark brown, spores echinate, monolete.

Family: Thelypteridaceae

1. Ampelopteris prolifera (Retz.) Copel. Plate 1

Rhizome creeping, scaly; fronds unipinnate; buds in the axils of pinnae; stipe 30-62 cm long, lamina of two kinds, one with a stalked terminal pinna, the other growing indefinitely with small lateral pinnae, lower pinnae sessile, termilal sub-sessile; other with small lateral pinnae growing indefinitely, lower pinnae distant, upto 16 cm long and 2 cm wide, the upper most pinnae smaller and closely placed upto 10 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, base truncate to cordate, margins lobed, apex acute, firm and thin texture, glabrous, short hairs on the upper side of costae; veinlets about 8 pairs, 4 to 6 pairs unite alternately to form an intermediate excurrent vein; sori oblong to elongate present along conjugated veinlets, exindusiate with capitate orange paraphyses. 2. Thelypteris erubescence (Wall. ex Hook.) Ching

Rhizome erect; fronds of large size, tufted, thin scales at base, laminae ovate to lanceolate, unipinnate to pinnatifid, upto 17 cm long and upto 3 cm broad; costae containig many erect stiff hairs, entire, segments round to acute, veins free, lateral veins of the pinnule simple, the lowest one vein running to above the sinus membrane; sori round, basal or borne nearly to the costae and costules, exindusiate; spores monolete.

3. T. dentata (Forssk.) E. St. John

Rhizome short creeping, hairy, stiff, petiole purplish brown; blade pinnate to pinnatifid, pinnae hairy on both surfaces, hairs short, fronds thin, dull green, upto 7 to 13 cm long and 1 to 3 cm broad, unipinnate, pinnae opposite to alternate, apex of pinnae upright, acute to acuminate, pinnae lobes closely spaced, margins of the segments entire and rounded to acute at apex, veins free, basal veins of each pair of adjacent pinna lobes united into one vein which runs to the edge of pinna, making a triangle, long stipe; veins free, forking; sori round located along the margins of the pinnae at the end of veins, sometimes covered by incurved margins of segments, terminal pinna at end of rachis longer than nearly all other pinnae, sori at the end of veins, near the margins, indusia reniform, spores monolete. Family: Athyriaceae 1. Athyrium mackinnoni (Hope) C. Chr.
Rhizome creeping, erect, stout with thin scales; frond upto 2 m long, rachis straw to black coloured, glabrous; lamina bipinnate to pinnatifid, oblong to elliptic; pinnae opposite to sub opposite, broad at the center and narrowing to the both ends, apex acute to acuminate, sessile to subsessile, upto 18 cm long, glabrous, margins and apex of pinnule incised to dentate, herbaceous, green; veins free, forked; sori linear along the veins, opening away from the vein; indusium j-shaped crossing or arching on the vein; spores monolete. 2. Cystopteris fragilis (L.) Bernh. Plate 2

Rhizome short, brown thin scales, ovate to lanceolate; fronds monomorphic closely placed on the rhizome, stipe dark at the base, green to straw coloured, slender, 4-12 cm long; lamina lanceolate to elliptic, bipinnate to bipinntifid, pinnae usually perpendicular to rachis, margins serrate to sharply dentate, glabrous; veins free; sori round, dorsal on veinlets; indusia thin, scale like, hood shaped attached by broad base; spores monolete, echinate. 3. Diplazium esculentum (Retz.) Sw. Plate 1

Rhizome erect, covered with brown scales; stipe stout, 30 to 60 cm long, lamina ovate, bipinnate to pinnatifid, 50 to 90 cm long and upto 50 cm broad, young fronds pinnate with broad pinnae, later fronds bipinnate with narrower pinnules, large fronds may be tripinnatifid, pinnae petiolate and pinnules subsessile, apex of lamina pinnatifid; sori linear to oblong, sometimes double, usually the basal ones paired back to back along the same vein, rachis groove U-shaped; spores monolete, echinate. Family: Aspleniaceae 1. Asplenium adiantum nigrum L. Plate 1

Creeping to sub-erect rhizome, branched, scales dark brown to blackish, fronds 22 cm high by 6-7 cm wide; stipe dark reddish brown at base but often green above; blade bipinnate to pinnatifid, oblong to triangular with basal pinnae larger and most divided, glossy, dark green, hairy along the costae; pinnae upto 13 pairs, opposite to alternate, variable in shape; pinnule ovate to lanceolate, margins finely incised; veins free, forking; sori linear along the veins, 2-4 pairs per pinna; indusium whitish; sporangia dark brown to blackish at maturity. 2. A. ceterach L. Rhizome erect, branching, small scales present, bearing many roots downward; frond not articulated to rhizome, 15 cm long, 2 cm wide; stipe and rachis bearing small light brown scales, stipe short as compared to lamina; lamina unipinnate, pinnatifid, lanceolate, leathery with upper surface deep green, dense light brown small scales entirely cover the lower surface of pinnae; pinnae 6-12 pairs, alternate in a zigzag manner, entire or undulate, slightly upper and lower pinnae somewhat smaller size as compared to medial; veins netted, visible after removing the scales; sori linear along the viens covered by flap like linear indusium replaced by scales at maturity; sporangia dark brown. 3. A. trichomanes L. Plate 1

Small fern with short, creeping to erect rhizome, often branched with clathrate scales, lanceolate densely covered with stipe bases; stipe tufted, 1-5 cm long, glossy or shiny, brown to dark purple; fronds linear, unipinnate, 5-25 cm long, 20-36 pairs, opposite to subopposite upper and lower pinnae shortened, medial pinnae broadly ovate to circular, 0.5-1 cm long, crenate to dentate, base cuneate; sori linear upto 1.6 mm long; sporangia dark brown, hide the indusium at maturity by covering the pinna. Family: Marsileaceae

1. Marsilea quadrifolia L. Plate 1

Roots arising at nodes and internodes upto 19 cm long; petiole upto 13 cm long, almost glabrous; pinnae upto 1.5 cm long and 0.6-1.5 cm broad, entire to somewhat crenate, glabrous; sporocarp present on stalk, rounded oval or elliptic.

2. M. minuta L.

This species is just like M. quadrifolia, but smaller in size, its length is about 7.5 cm and margins are crenate. Family: Salviniaceae 1. Salvinia auriculata Aublet Plate 1 Floating leaves oval-oblong, 1-2 cm long, petiolate, auriculate or heart shape at base, margins entire to undulate, papillate on upper surface, with free hairs on tip of each papilla joining to form egg beater like structure; veins inconspicuous and reticulate; submerged leaf hair like upto 10 cm long; sporocarp globose, covered with brown, multicellular hairs. 2. S. molesta D. Mitch. Plate 1

Floating leaves bilobed on both sides, upto 3 cm long and 2.5-3 cm wide, sessile to sub-sessile, margins entire to undulate, papillate on upper surface, with free hairs on tip of each papilla joining to form egg beater like structure; veins inconspicuous and reticulate; submerged root like leaf upto 15 cm long, petiolate, bearing male and female sporocarp on branches covered with brown multicellular hairs.
Family: Azollaceae 1. Azolla pinnata R. Brown

Triangular plant, about 1 cm wide; leaves trapezoidal; bilobed bearing pointed trichomes on ventral side; megasporangium warty, without collar, terminal flagellated crown.

A FIELD SURVEY OF MYCORRHIZAL ASSOCIATIONS IN FERNS OF PAKISTAN

Abstract:

Roots of the ferns examined in this investigation were constantly mycorrhizal. A mixture ofseveral endophytes infecting a root system was a usual feature of them. Vesicular-arbuscularendophytes predominated over endophytes with a septate mycelium. Ectomycorrhizal fungi witha septate mycelium bearing clamp-connections ran longitudinally inside the cortex andoccasionally these hyphae formed a mantle on the outside of the roots. A displacement ofendotrophic mycorrhizas by ectomycorrhizal fungi occurred in Adiantum venustum D. Don whengrowing under pine forest.Heavy arbuscular and vesicular infections occurred throughout the period of investigation Several spore types were present in each rhizosphere.

Morpho-Palynological Studies On The Angiospermic Fern Cyrtomium Cyrotideum C. Chr; (Syn: Polystichium Falcatum).

Abstract:

The Angiospermic fern Cyrtomium cyrotideum C. Chr. was collected from Chikar and Kachelli, under the shade of Pinus wallichianum (A. B. Jackson) at an altitude of 7000 feet, Jehlum Valley District Muzaffarabad Azad Kashmir. The sporangia globose, sori are small and scattered, stripes tufted, densely clothed below with large dark scales, scattered, texture coriaceous with naked surface, the upper surface glossy with primary veins from the midrib of the pinnae. Each meristele has thick walled pericycle within which a crescent-shaped xylem is located with exarch protoxylem. Phloem cells are thin walled and filled to make a round mass of the cells. Average size of capsule is 250 x 100 across wide, 180 in height. Spore manostele is 90 thick, isospore, bilateral, proximal, flat, perine, and delicate. Spore dimension is 92 x 66. Distal surface heavily warty with the exine thickness of 3.5

SOME TOP FERNS TO GROW AS HOUSE PLANTS: * Crocodile Fern
We love this fern's interesting texture. The bright green fronds have a decidedly reptilian look and it's not tough to see where the common name comes from. It makes a bold statement: At maturity, each frond can reach 3 feet long.
Name: Microsorium musifolium 'Crocodyllus'
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 4 feet tall and wide

* Lemon Button Fern
Lemon button fern produces cute, golden-green fronds with rounded edges (that give it the buttonlike appearance). It's an easy-to-grow fern that fits in well with a lot of decorating styles.
Name: Nephrolepis cordifolia 'Lemon Button'
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide

* Maidenhair Fern
Among the most loved ferns, maidenhairs offer fine-textured fronds on black stalks. The arching fronds emerge light green and darken a bit as they age.
Name: Adiantum raddianum 'Fritz Luth'
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 2 feet tall and wide

* Rabbit's-Foot Fern
This slow-growing fern offers dark green, fine textured fronds and fuzzy stems that creep down over the pot or along the soil. These stems are what gives the fern its delightful common name.
Name: Humata tyermanii
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 2 feet tall and wide

* Staghorn Fern
Among the most spectacular of ferns, staghorns don't need to be grown in soil so you often see them mounted and grown on walls or posts. They offer deep green, antlerlike fronds that definitely make a statement in your home's decorating scheme.
Name: Platycerium bifurcatum
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 6 feet tall and wide

* Bird's Nest Fern
Another of our favorites, bird's nest fern is a slow-growing plant with bright green fronds that radiate from the center of the plant, creating a vase or bird's nest shape. It's versatile and easy to grow.
Name: Asplenium nidus
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 5 feet tall and wide (but usually 1-2 feet indoors)

* Silver Brake Fern
Create a distinctive look in your home with this fern. The crested fronds are almost spidery and bear a bright silvery stripe down the center.
Name: Pteris cretica 'Mayi'
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 2 feet tall and wide

* Kangaroo Paw Fern
This interesting fern offers shiny, dark green fronds in an unkempt mound reminiscent of Medusa's hair. Like rabbit's-foot fern, it bears creeping stems that may grow down the side of its container!
Name: Microsorium diversifolium
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 2 feet tall and wide

* Boston Fern
The most common indoor fern, Boston ferns are long-lived plants that can reach more than 5 feet tall and wide at maturity (though indoors they rarely reach that size). Fern breeders have released a large number of varieties -- from selections with golden fronds to fantastically frilled fronds. Shown here is 'Fluffy Ruffles'.
Name: Nephrolepis exaltata 'Fluffy Ruffles'
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 7 feet tall and wide (but usually 2-3 feet tall and wide indoors)

REFERRENCES * http://www.home.aone.net.au/~byzantium/ferns/climate.html * http://www.bhg.com/gardening/houseplants/ferns/9-top-ferns-to-grow-as-houseplants/#page=1 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern * http://www.pakbs.org/pjbot/PDFs/44(SI1)/47.pdf * http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1981.tb01691.x/pdf * http://iosrjournals.org/iosr-javs/papers/vol5-issue3/M0535658.pdf?id=7270 * http://www.planta.cn/forum/files_planta/paragraphoe_635.pdf * http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search/display.do?f=1998/PK/PK98002.xml;PK1998000174 * http://homepages.caverock.net.nz/~bj/fern/genrefs.htm * ^ Chapman, Arthur (2010-08-26). "Numbers of Living Species in Australia and the World. Report for the Australian Biological Resources Study. Canberra, Australia. September 2009.". Environment.gov.au. Retrieved 2013- * ^ Schuettpelz, Eric. "Fern Phylogeny Inferred from 400 Leptosporangiate Species and Three Plastid Genes," contained in "The Evolution and Diversification of Epiphytic Ferns." Doctoral dissertation, Duke University. 2007.http://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/10161/181/1/1 * ^ Jump up to:a b c Smith, A.R.; Pryer, K.M.; Schuettpelz, E.; Korall, P.; Schneider, H.; Wolf, P.G. (2006). "A classification for extant ferns". Taxon 55 (3): 705–731. doi:10.2307/25065646.JSTOR 25065646. Retrieved 2008-02-12 * Beddome, R.H. 1866. The Ferns of British India being Figures * and Description of Ferns from all parts of British India. I. * Gantz Brothers Adelph Press, Madras, India. * Beddome, R.H. 1873. The Ferns of Southern India being * Description and Plates of the Fern of the Madras * Presidency. 2nd ed., Higginbotham and Co., Madras, India. * Beddome, R.H. 1883. Handbook to the ferns of British India, * Ceylon and the Malay Peninsula. Reprinted edition, 1976. * Today and Tomorrow’s Printers & Publishers, New Dehli, * India. * Copeland, E.B. 1947. Genera Filicum, the Genera of Ferns. In: * Annales Cryptogramici et Phytopathologici. Vol. V. (Ed.): * F. Verdoorn. The Ronald Press Company, New York. * Devol, C.E. and W.C. Shieh. 1994. Key to Families. In: Flora of * Taiwan, Vol. I, Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms. Edited by * editorial committee of Flora of Taiwan. Epoch Publishing * Company, Taiwan, pp. 23-26. * Hogan, S. 2004. Flora: The Gardener’s Bible. Global Book * Publishing, Australia. pp: 58.