Ferns
June 8, 2009
Osmundastrum cinnamomea
This entry was schedule to appear yesterday. Unfortunately an unknown problem arose and it did not appear as scheduled. My apologies.
Today's entry was written by Randal Mindell, a botanist working on a special project at UBCBG. Randal took the close-up photo and I took the full view. Randal writes:
Fronds of Osmundastrum cinnamomea (cinnamon fern) come in two forms: tripinnate vegetative fronds and tripinnate reproductive fronds. This differs from the coupling of reproductive structures on vegetative, photosynthetic leaves common to the vast majority of filicalean ferns. The distinction between the two frond types is easy to see in the picture, with tan fertile material encircled by traditional, verdant foliage. If you feel like you have seen this before, perhaps you are thinking of other erect and iconic ferns such as Blechnum spicant (deer fern), Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern) or Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern).
Among living ferns, the family Osmundaceae has one of the longest fossil records. It traces back to the Paleozoic, and is widely distributed across the northern hemisphere during the Mesozoic. Given the widespread nature of Osmunda cinnamomea in the present (North & South America, Asia), I would like to reflect on the reproductive potential that fuels its dispersal. Plants here at the garden give off anywhere from 5-10 fertile fronds. An informal count revealed that these fronds produce anywhere between 11-19 pairs of primary pinnae (primary divisions of the leaf), which in turn give off anywhere between 13-20 pairs of secondary pinnae. Counting the tertiary pinnae (the sterile tissue on to which the sporangia are borne) is too painful, but a count of sporangia on a few secondary pinnae averaged 45 per pinna. Putting these loose numbers together (fertile fronds × primary pinnae × secondary pinnae × sporangia per secondary pinna) and multiplying them by the 64 spores per sporangium that is standard for the Dryopteridaceae, we see that one individual has the potential to produce anywhere from 8-43 million photosynthetic spores.
Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 9:30 AM| Comments (9)
October 7, 2008
Asplenium ceterach
Thank you to Jackie Chambers, UBC Botanical Garden Horticulturist, for both today's photograph and write-up!
Close inspection of this photo reveals what appears to be the remains of a fern nestled in the rock crevice -- there are no obvious signs of life, no green photosynthetic surface is visible, and the leaves are curled inward revealing the rusty coloured trichomes or hairs that line the undersides. At first glance, the fern in this photo may appear somewhat uninspiring; however, Asplenium ceterach (syn. Ceterach officinarum) is a fascinating little plant.
A fern with a preference for dry places, the rustyback fern has an amazing drought tolerance. The vegetative organs of the plants can dry out completely when moisture is lacking, and then revive without injury when water becomes available. When not in its desiccated state, the fern has shiny green fronds that range from 3-20cm long, depending on environment. The leaves are pinnate and leathery, with the rusty-brown hairs hidden on the undersides. It also has a short rhizome, which serves to secure the plant to cracks in walls or rocky surfaces. The Skye Flora's page on Asplenium ceterach gives an excellent idea of what the plant looks like when fully hydrated.
Asplenium ceterach has a native range that extends across parts of Europe, northern Africa, and into temperate Asia. This means it can be found in a range of countries and locations: from dry stone walls in parts of the UK to the hot, rocky outcrops along the coast of southern Spain like the one above.
Ferns differ from angiosperms or flowering plants in that they do not rely on flowers or seeds for reproduction -- part of their life cycle includes a sporophyte (spore-producing entities) phase and a portion of their life cycle include as gametophyte phase (or gamete-producing organism). This is called alteration of generations, and is described more fully in Wikipedia's section on ferns.
The interesting lives of spore-bearing plants are celebrated in verse on this website, Cryptogams: Poems, where the author has dedicated a poem to the resurrection abilities of Asplenium ceterach (listed under a synonym, Ceterach officinarum).
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (4)
February 12, 2008
Dicranopteris linearis
Thank you again to Krystyna Szulecka for sharing another of her excellent photographs (posted in this thread in the BPotD submissions forum). If you like, see more of Krystyna's images by searching for “Krystyna” on the FLPA web site.
Given its distribution, it's doubtless that Dicranopteris linearis has dozens of common names. Four names frequently used are Uluhe fern, climbing fern, false staghorn and Old World forked fern. According to GRIN, it can be found in tropical and subtropical areas throughout the Old World. That left me puzzled for a bit, as Plants of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park lists it as indigenous and the USDA PLANTS database displays it as native to Hawaii The mystery was partially resolved when I looked at GRIN's entry for Dicranopteris linearis f. marginata, noted to be found in Hawaii. So, it appears to be a small oversight that Hawaii isn't included in the broader distribution list.
The Plants of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has a photograph clearly illustrating the reason for one of the common names, climbing fern. More photographs, particularly with respect to propagation, are available in the PDF suggested by Krystyna: The Propagation and Production of Uluhe Fern (Dicranopteris linearis) for Potential Use as a Restoration Species (a presentation given to the International Plant Propagators' Society).
The New South Wales Flora Online provides a small scientific description of the species.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 9:43 AM| Comments (6)
November 11, 2007
Sadleria cyatheoides
First-time contributor Dana Cromie (a UBC BG Friend of the Garden) has shared today's image from a visit to Hawaii (original | BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Thank you, Dana!
I've decided to post the photograph from what I believe to be accurate orientation as well as the flip; a visit to the image on Flickr will also show it in a horizontal perspective. The strong lines of the image gave me a few minutes of enjoyment as I examined the photo in different orientations, so that was my reason for posting it like this.
Commonly known as amau or ‘ama‘u in Hawaiian (and sometimes known as rasp fern), Sadleria cyatheoides is an endemic to the archipelago. It is a plant of wet habitats that can be found from near sea-level to 2135m (7000 ft.). For a small factsheet about the plant, visit Plants of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Many more photographs are available from the Plants of Hawaii site, Sadleria cyatheoides.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (3)
November 8, 2007
Pteridium aquilinum
Thank you to Stephen B of Scotland aka stephenbuchan@Flickr for another couple photographs shared with BPotD (original 1 | original 2 | BPotD Flickr Pool). As always, it is very much appreciated, Stephen.
Bracken fern can be found throughout most of the world. The advantage of featuring one of the most widely distributed vascular plants is that there is a wealth of information online.
On its classification: Is it one species with many subordinate taxa (i.e., subspecies and varieties)? Or is there now enough evidence to break up the one species into ten or so distinct species? The Flora of North America's entry on Pteridium aquilinum notes the “disagreement existing among taxonomists” with a summary of evidence pointing to splitting up the one species into multiples, but still opts for a single-species approach. This illustration from the Flora of North America shows the variability of form between taxa.
On edibility: The Plants for a Future database, as always, details the edibility and other economic uses, but accompanies it with a warning about potential health risks of ingestion. The Nova Scotia Museum simply labels it carcinogenic, with the suggestion that it is to be avoided. Wikipedia summarizes how bracken is used (and eaten) by several cultures.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 6:48 AM| Comments (9)
October 8, 2007
Polypodium glycyrrhiza
Peeking at the undersides of licorice fern fronds at this time of year often rewards you with a display of their orange, naked sori. The sori are clusters of sporangia, or spore-containing structures (see this illustration of the fern life cycle). The term naked is used because the sori lack a protective covering called the indusium; for comparison, here's a photograph of sori (partially) covered by indusia on Polystichum.
The epithet glycyrrhiza means sweet root and refers to the genus Glycyrrhiza, a member of the bean family. The root of Glycyrrhiza is better known as licorice (or liquorice). The rhizomes and stems of Polypodium glycyrrhiza are similarly flavoured, hence the common name of licorice fern.
Polypodium glycyrrhiza is distributed along the coastal regions of western North America, as well as the Kamchatka region of Asia. The Hardy Fern Library provides a detailed description of licorice fern.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 7:35 AM| Comments (9)
February 7, 2007
Marsilea mutica
Seventh in the series on Australian plants comes to us courtesy of Eric in SF@Flickr (original image) via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool). As always, it's appreciated, Eric.
Despite resembling plasticky four-leaf clovers, these are actually aquatic ferns. The strong resemblance, though, is reflected in some of its common names: water clover or floating water clover. It is also known as the banded nardoo.
This is a plant of ponds and riverbanks throughout most of Australia, including Tasmania. The flat, broad leaves are representative of one of the two typical leaf morphologies for aquatic plants. Large, flat leaves aid in both flotation and optimal capture of sunlight, and are often found at the water surface. The second typical aquatic leaf form of submerged, fine, narrow leaves is not observed in Marsilea (for an example of such, see Elodea)
Photographs of the plant in habitat can be seen on the New South Wales Flora Online: Marsilea mutica.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (4)
September 4, 2006
Platycerium bifurcatum
Today's image is courtesy of Van in NYC@Flickr (original image | BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Van in NYC took this tilted photograph at the Santa Barbara Zoo – it's worthwhile to note that zoos often have extensive botanical collections. Thanks again, Van in NYC!
It's a holiday Monday, so just a few links for an entry today. The Australian National Botanic Gardens provides an excellent information sheet on this New Guinea and Australian native: Growing Platycerium bifurcatum. If you're interested in some of the biology behind staghorn (or elkhorn) ferns, see: Kreier, H and Schneider, H. 2006. Phylogeny and biogeography of the staghorn fern genus Platycerium (Polypodiaceae, Polypodiidae) (abstract, if the full article isn't available). American Journal of Botany. 93:217-225.
For a humourous staghorn fern, see this BPotD submission: Staghorn Fern Bug? (thanks, toutlan!).
Photography resource link: National Geographic has a section on their web site dedicated to photography, with many photo galleries to explore if you've some time!
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (2)
August 23, 2006
Cliff at China Beach
I couldn't resist sharing today's photograph in both vertical and horizontal orientations. The correct perspective is the vertical, since this is a cliff with seeping water. Still, I imagine the horizontal image could be used to trick more than a few people.
The challenges of the vertical environment for plants include exposure to wind and sun, poor or lacking soil, nutrient availability and gravity. These factors would be studied by cliff ecologists; cliff ecology is a specialized discipline within ecology that examines and studies organisms of cliff environments and how they interact with each other and the physical environment. Never heard of cliff ecology? A book review for “Cliff Ecology: Pattern and Process in Cliff Ecosystems” explains why. Here's the lede of the review: “Question: What is vertical, predominantly rock, virtually unstudied and largely taken for granted by land managers? Answer: A cliff. Perhaps no other landscape feature has been so consistently ignored despite being pervasive and prominent across the world. Ecologists haven't studied cliffs, and land managers haven't assumed responsibility for protecting them.”.
Two of the three vascular plants I noticed growing on this particular cliff face are in this photograph: Adiantum aleuticum and Saxifraga mertensiana (I've yet to ID the third, but it is not in this image). If I had to identify the moss, I'd hazard a guess and suggest it is Hypnum subimponens (Hypnaceae). This tentative ID is based on environment (seeping cliffs), habit (mat-forming), and colouration (yellow-green new growth, brownish-green in older areas) via the description in “Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast” by Pojar & MacKinnon.
Photography / agriculture resource link: International Plant Genetic Resources Institute's Image Bank contains images on the subjects of plant and crop diversity (my favourite is this photograph of an orange-fleshed banana).
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:56 AM| Comments (2)
April 26, 2006
Adiantum aleuticum
The unfurling fronds of Western maidenhair fern in dim, morning light look little like the mature fronds in indirect sunlight.
The distribution of Adiantum aleuticum (map) is a case study in disjunct populations, or populations of a species separated by a wide geographic or ecological distance. Broadly speaking, western maidenhair fern's main distribution range is coastal and inland forests of Alaska south to California. However, as mentioned by the Flora of North America account for the species, it is also “disjunct in wet rock fissures at high elevations in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and Mexico in Chihuahua, and it is disjunct on serpentine in Newfoundland, Quebec, Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.” Your task of the day is to generate a possible explanation for the pattern of this plant's distribution, particularly for its disjunct populations (the map link above gives a clear overview of the distribution).
Landscape architecture / horticulture resource link: Dr. Peter Del Tredici from Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum has two articles worth reading in the February 2006 issue of Landscape Architecture. The first, titled “Because Plants Are At Stake” (PDF), addresses the importance of having a knowledge of plants in the field of landscape architecture. The second, “Brave New Ecology (PDF)”, tackles the question “Can we ever put the invasive species genie back in the bottle, or are we looking at a future in which nature as we know it becomes a cultivated entity?”
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (3)
April 6, 2006
Cheilanthes gracillima
I'm on vacation, so only a short written accompaniment today. – Daniel
Lip fern, or lace-lip fern, is native to western North America, from British Columbia south to California and east to Montana. Given the diversity of environments within that large area, it is not surprising that it isn't found everywhere within the region. Using Cheilanthes gracillima as an example, here's a small survey of how different databases present the distribution information.
The USDA's PLANTS database operates on a state-by-state presence/absence mapping system, like so: Cheilanthes gracillima. While useful in a broad context, it isn't very precise; if you make the assumption that you might find the plant in eastern Montana or south of the California border, you will be searching for a very long time.
The Flora of North America improves upon the PLANTS map by delineating the extent of the distribution: Cheilanthes gracillima. If you are familiar with regional geography, these types of maps can often give some hint as to what limits the distribution of a species. For this fern, it seems it grows in hilly or mountainous areas that are not subject to extreme heat or cold.
That presumption seems to be borne out by examining both the county-by-county distribution map in Washington state and the Jepson Manual's distribution map in Californian Floristic Provinces. These distribution maps allow better inference about the habitat and ecological requirements of the species, particularly the Californian map as it uses ecological similarities for map subdivisions.
A different approach is taken by the British Columbia E-Flora Atlas Page for Cheilanthes gracillima, which uses point data to map the location of documented collections of the plant (i.e., herbarium specimens). Interestingly, you can add to the map the “BEC Zones” (or Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification) layer (similar, though not equivalent to the California Floristic Provinces) and discover that lace-lip fern is found in a half-dozen or so different ecological regions in British Columbia, but only one or a few known records of Cheilanthes gracillima exist for each region. In all of the other distribution mapping schemes, the notion that this species is relatively uncommon is masked by the presentation of the data.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (1)
March 30, 2006
Dryopteris cycadina
I'm on vacation, so only a short written accompaniment today. – Daniel
The Herbarium at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden has an excellent article on Dryopteris cycadina, or shaggy wood-fern.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (4)
December 26, 2005
Dryopteris wallichiana
This image of Wallich's wood fern was taken in May, 2005. For a gardener's perspective on it, I'll direct you to Paghat's Garden. For (many) more photographs, have a look at the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk Project's native plants entry on Dryopteris wallichiana.
Like previous black and white images this month, I've used the Photoshop Calculations command. On this image, I combined the red and blue channels with screen at 100%, then the red and alpha1 channels using multiply at 85%. Since this probably means very little to you if you don't have Photoshop, I've uploaded the set of black and whites (red, blue and green channels, and the intermediary alpha1 channel) in one large image – you can see it here. At the very least, you'll see that there are a number of black and white manipulations that can be done to an image digitally; then again, many of the same manipulations were possible with film, depending on what film one used and what technique one used to develop it.
Botany / travel resource link: I believe someone mentioned this link on the garden's forums or the BPotD comments, but in case you missed it, check out Conifer Hunting in Mexico, a travelogue via the conifers.org site.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 5:00 AM| Comments (1)
August 25, 2005
Woodwardia orientalis var. formosana
This is the Taiwanese variety of Oriental chain fern, collected in the mountainous forests of Taiwan by Dan Hinkley in 1999. The common name is derived from the chain-like arrangment of sori (spore-producing organs) on the underside of the leaves (not seen here).
As I find this plant both structural and photogenic, I've taken a number of photographs of it in the past. Other attempts can be seen here: Woodwardia orientalis var. formosana via the UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
A few notes of interest regarding Botany Photo of the Day:
- A warm welcome to readers of GardenWise. Starting with the Fall 2005 magazine, GardenWise will be highlighting an entry or two from Botany Photo of the Day in each issue, helping us promote both the science and beauty of plants.
- Richard Dickey of Feral Flowers sent a note of thank you regarding the entry on Eschscholzia californica, so I've posted it as a comment - worth checking out.
- Tangled Bank, Issue Number 35 is out, hosted by Cognitive Daily. Tangled Bank is a “blog carnival” - a periodic collection of links to different weblogs based on a certain theme. In the case of Tangled Bank, the theme is science, so follow the link and see some of the best of what other science-themed webloggers are writing about.
Photography resource link: Converting Images from Colour to Greyscale. Darwin Wiggett explores some techniques in Photoshop for converting colour images to greyscale. I've used the “Blending Two Channels” technique for today's photograph, with a red-red channel multiplication at 100%.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (2)
July 16, 2005
Adiantum aleuticum
Once thought to be a single widespread North American species, Adiantum pedatum (maidenhair fern) was recently segregated into three - the eastern Adiantum pedatum, the western Adiantum aleuticum and (known only from Vermont) Adiantum viridimontanum. Although the similarities and differences between Adiantum pedatum and Adiantum aleuticum have been recognized in the past (the western taxon sometimes being known as Adiantum pedatum subsp. aleuticum), reproductive isolation (they don't interbreed) and the number of morphological differences drove the decision to ultimately split the traditional species up.
Photographed in UBC's Native Garden, site of a good collection of Pacific Northwest ferns.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:00 AM| Comments (6)
May 12, 2005
Adiantum venustum
While in the Asian Garden yesterday documenting some of this year's plant inventory at the garden, I decided to try photographing this lovely little fern yet again. I've attempted it previously, but was never happy with the results.
I'm happy with this, although the photograph at this size still doesn't capture the flow and subtle beauty of this gem. So, for the first time for the Botany Photo of the Day series, I'm supplying the full-size version of a photograph, Adiantum venustum, for you to see. Be warned! The file is 3 megabytes in size - if you are on dial-up, go fetch a cup of coffee or tea. Unfortunately, the file opens to the weakest spot in the photograph (the upper left) - make sure you scroll down and to the right to be appreciating the same things I am with the plant.
Apologies for being light on the science side of things today - as I mentioned in a previous post, my time is elsewhere this week with the inventory. I do have the energy for a small story, though. I wanted to thank everyone who attended the Perennial Plant Sale on the weekend - the event was a huge success. I know that at least a few readers of Botany Photo of the Day attended, because I had an opportunity to speak with the Friend of the Garden who was volunteering in the “Tender Plants” section yesterday evening. She admitted to me that she hadn't visited the web site recently, and could not figure out why so many people were asking for Salvia discolor, which was featured as the Photo of the Day last Saturday. Once she figured out it was because of the web site, she was pretty impressed. So, thank you to those who live locally and who were inspired enough to seek out Salvia discolor based off that photo entry; if you did attend the sale hoping for a Salvia discolor but were disappointed, I hope the thousands of other plants available partly made up for it.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (4)
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Botany Photo of the Day and all associated images are licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.