Common Name: Lady Fern Scientific Name: Athyrium Filix-femina Distribution: There are several subspecies of this fern; each occurs over a wide swath of the country and altogether they cover most of the U.S. Notes: Because I found this individual in the Hoh Rain Forest of Olympic National Park, it is probably the Western Lady Fern subspecies. |
FERNS are vascular plants that contain xylem and phloem. They were the first vascular plants to have roots, stems, and leaves. However, they do not have flowers or seeds. Instead, they use spores to reproduce. The earliest known ferns appear in fossils that are about 350 million years old. Ferns are not as prevalent as they were before flowering plants evolved, but there are still more than 10,000 species of ferns in the world. Of those, about 400 species occur in the United States. Links Books |
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