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How many of these common ferns do you know?

Published: 2024-12-22 Author: mysheen

Last Updated: 2024/12/22, Source | Vanke Architecture Research Center in the history of the evolution and development of life, ferns are a miracle. Pteridophyte is the first plant group to land, so far it has a history of more than 300 million years. Ferns are dinosaurs.

Source | Vanke Architecture Research Center

In the history of the evolution and development of life, ferns are a miracle. Pteridophyte is the first plant group to land, so far it has a history of more than 300 million years. Ferns are the main source of food for dinosaurs. Today, dinosaurs are extinct, but ferns are still alive; ferns are the ancestors of gymnosperms, and now many gymnosperms have become relics, and ferns are still alive; ferns are the ancestors of flowering plants, and ferns are still thriving today.

Origin and classification

Ferns (Fern) are also called ferns. In the Paleozoic, the scale wood and Reed wood in pteridophytes were very tall and were important raw materials for the formation of coal. Modern ferns are herbaceous, except that the only surviving Alsophila spinulosa in the world is woody. Ferns have no flowers, no fruits or seeds, and they reproduce by spores. It can be roughly divided into four classes: pine leaf fern, stone pine, Equisetum (above are pseudo-ferns) and true ferns (true ferns).

The underground stems of ferns can grow leaves everywhere year after year, and the upper part of the tender leaves are curled, with white hairs on the outside. In ancient times, they were called "boxing vegetable" or "fern fist". The leaves grow up gradually, and there are dark green and beautiful pinnately compound leaves on the petiole. The wild fern in the mountains is simple and strong, mainly depends on the brown or yellow spores on the back of its leaves scattered in wet places, after a complicated process, develop into a new fern.

The tender leaves of ferns

The leaves of pteridophytes can be divided into spore leaves and nutrient leaves according to their functions. Sporophyte refers to the leaves that can produce sporangia and spores, also known as fertile leaves; vegetative leaves can only carry out photosynthesis, can not produce sporangia and spores, also known as sterile leaves. The spore leaves of some ferns are indistinguishable from vegetative leaves, which can not only carry out photosynthesis and produce organic matter, but also produce sporangia and spores, and the leaves are of the same shape, such as the common Guanzhong, Dryopteris, Shiwei, etc.; in addition, on the same plant, leaves with two different shapes and functions. That is, nutritious leaves and spore leaves, called heteromorphic leaves, such as pod fern, mistletoe fern, Osmunda Osmunda and so on.

Sporangia of ferns

Emei Guanzhong

Mistletoe fern

Osmunda japonica

There are about 12000 species of pteridophytes in the world. Ferns have a wide range of uses. Many kinds are available for consumption, and the buds are used as vegetables, such as bracken, which is fragrant and delicious, and has the reputation of "king of mountain treasures". The rhizomes of many ferns contain large amounts of starch, which can be used to make wine or sugar. The underground rhizome of Guanyin lotus can weigh up to 20,30kg. Many species are famous medicinal plants, such as Pinus elliottii, Selaginella officinalis and Guanzhong. Manjianghong and sophora leaf chrysanthemum are fodder and fertilizer.

Culture and application

Ferns make people feel simple, peaceful, simple, fresh, elegant and even slightly mysterious. Pteridophytes have long been recorded in Chinese history. In the Book of songs, the legend of Boyi Shuqi picking fern Shouyang Mountain was recorded in the Book of songs, and pteridophytes were cast as a special cultural symbol in Chinese traditional culture. "there is seclusion in Hezhou, and Fuwei ferns in rivers and mountains". Fern-picking has become a symbol of people outside the party seeking to release their armour and return to the fields. "Children everywhere gather ferns and camp nests one after another," yearning for a better pastoral life.

Pteridophytes, a very ancient group, have many unique adaptation mechanisms in adapting to extremely dark environment, extremely polluted environment, extremely arid environment and so on. Pteridophytes also have obvious advantages in indoor viewing, urban three-dimensional greening and environmental remediation in areas with serious urban heavy metal pollution. At present, the application of pteridophytes in gardens is mainly focused on indoor ornamental, cut flowers and outdoor flowering plants, which is a relatively new landscaping plant material and is not widely used.

New leaves of Dryopteris Dryopteris

New Zealand national flower-silver fern leaf

Soft tree fern

Edible wild ferns

As an ornamental plant, pteridophytes are known as "the beauty of no flowers" in the West. Especially in Japan, Europe and the United States, it is regarded as a symbol of nobility and elegance, representing a major trend of ornamental plants in the world today. In New Zealand, silver fern is regarded as the national flower of New Zealand. It can be seen everywhere, on visas, on postcards, and even on the house numbers of arts and crafts shops. It has gradually become a symbol of New Zealand. Pteridophyte elegant and novel, green and green leaf color, and shade-resistant and diverse ecological adaptability make it have a broad application prospect, especially in indoor horticulture. In recent years, the use of ferns as scenery and decoration materials in parks and courtyards is becoming more and more common.

Compared with flowering plants, ferns have unique advantages. First of all, pteridophytes are shade-tolerant and can survive normally and photosynthesis in a darker environment. Second, pteridophytes only produce spores, unlike flowering plants that produce highly allergic pollen, and there are no reports that fern spores are allergic.

The Dongguan Tropical Rain Forest Botanical Garden, which has begun construction, has a special pteridophyte area-Alsophila spinulosa Valley. The ancient ferns are placed in strong modern design elements to show the unique charm of ferns in the garden. With the winding streams and undulating mountains in the rainforest, it highlights the simple, fresh and elegant style of ferns, while forming an elegant, ethereal and harmonious atmosphere.

Pteridophyte microlandscape

Pteridophytes in the Royal Botanical Garden of Melbourne

Pteridophytes of Hawaii

Intention Map of Alsophila spinulosa Valley in Tropical Rain Forest of Vanke Construction and Research Base

Dryopteris Ceratopteris

Dryopteris przewalskii

Cuiyun grass

Pinus elliottii

Selaginella officinalis

Chinese water leek

Pine leaf fern

Wooden thief