Three truths
- Timed
- Branched off about 410 million years ago · the last 9.8% of life's story
- Named
- ≈11,000 named living species · 0.6% of all named
- Weighed
- Part of Plants (mostly land plants) (≈450 Gt C), not measured separately.
Eukaryotes · plants and algae · class
Ferns
Polypodiopsida
Living · roughly 11,000 described species
Vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds. They were widespread long before flowering plants appeared.
Ferns spread by spores and were here long before the first flower.
Key characteristics
- Spores often in clusters under the fronds
- New fronds unroll from tight coils
- Have water-conducting tissue
- Habitat
- Mostly moist, shaded places; some grow in deserts or on water
- Branched off
- About 410 million years ago (approximate)
- Parent lineage
- Euphyllophytes
Classification
Sources
- Fern (Wikipedia) · Wikipedia
- TimeTree: the timescale of life · TimeTree
- Open Tree of Life · Open Tree of Life
- Tree of Life Web Project · Tree of Life Web Project