Ferns & Allies Notes Flashcards

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1
Q

Tracheophytes

A

Vascular plants - a monophylectic group among land plants.

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2
Q

Vascular plant apomorphies

A
  • lignified secondary cell walls, w/ pits (some)
  • sclerenchyma tissue
  • tracheary elements (xylem tissue)
  • sieve elements (phloem tissue)
  • endodermis
  • independent, long-lived sporophyte generation
     AND, except for the earliest fossil lineages,
  • sporophytic leaves associated with a stem to comprise a shoot system
  • roots
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3
Q

Vascular plant period of origin

A

Silurian Period, some 450 mya

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4
Q

The earliest members of tracheophytes belong to three extinct groups, which are known only from fossils.

A
  • rhyniophytes
  • zosterophyllophytes
  • trimerophytes
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5
Q

Rhyinophyta characteristics

A
  • seedless
  • simple, dichotomously branched stems
  • no true roots or leaves
  • round or elongate terminal sporangia
  • homosporous
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6
Q

Cooksonia

A

The oldest known vascular plant. Its stem was ca. 6.5 cm tall, and its sporangia were round. It became extinct by the mid- Devonian period, ca. 390 mya.

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7
Q

Rhynia

A

A marsh plant, came next, during the early Devonian (ca. 410-360 mya) . The upright stem was ca. 18 cm tall, ca. 3 mm thick, and dichotomously branched. It possessed a cuticle, was photosynthetic, and had stomata.

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8
Q

Zosterophyllophyta characteristics

A
  • seedless
  • simple, dichotomously branched stems
  • no true roots or leaves
  • round or kidney-shaped lateral sporangia borne on short stalks
  • homosporous
  • probable ancestors of lycophytes
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9
Q

Trimerophyta characteristics

A
  • seedless
  • complex, dichotomously branched stems
  • no true roots or leaves
  • elongate lateral sporangia borne on short stalks
  • homosporous
  • evolved from rhyniophytes
  • ancestor of ferns and possibly horsetails
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10
Q

Pteridophytes

A
  • This group comprises the extant, seedless vascular plants. At one time, these plants, such as Lepidodendron, dominated the earth. This was especially true during the Carboniferous Period.
  • Today, pteridophytes comprise over 13,000 living species. In North America, north of Mexico, there are about 400 species.
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11
Q

Lycopodiophyta apomorphies

A
  • endarch protoxylem of roots
  • exarch protoxylem of stems
  • lycophyll (microphyll) leaf type. This is a relatively small leaf that possesses only a single strand of vascular tissue. It is usually associated with stems that have protosteles. Leaf gaps are not produced by lycophylls.
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12
Q

Family Lycopodiaceae characterics

A
  • common names: club moss, ground pine, running cedar
  • aboveground stems are dichotomously branched

• belowground stems (rhizomes) possess adventitious roots

  • sporangia are associated with sporophylls
  • sporophylls are often aggregated into a strobilus
  • homosporous

* Lycopodium - common in North America. Certain species were collected for making Christmas wreaths, and the dry spores were once used as flash powder and condom lubricants.

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13
Q

Family Selaginellaceae characteristics

A
  • common name: spike moss
  • aboveground stems are dichotomously branched
  • belowground stems (rhizomes) possess adventitious roots

• leaves possess a ligule

  • microsporangia are associated with microsporophylls, megasporangia are associated with megasporophylls
  • sporophylls are often aggregated into a strobilus
  • heterosporous

* most Selaginella sp. live in tropical regions

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14
Q

Family Isoetaceae characteristics

A
  • common name: quillwort
  • belowground stems are short, erect, and cormlike; and possess adventitious roots
  • leaves are long and quill-like, and each possesses a ligule

• microsporangia and megasporangia are sunken in the bases of the leaves

• heterosporous

* Isoetes - an emergant plant of shallow ponds.

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15
Q

Euphyllophytes

A

• sister group of lycophytes

• comprises remaining tracheophytes (vascular
plants)

  • 30-kilobase inversion in the large single-copy region of chloroplast DNA
  • exarch protoxylem of roots
  • euphyll (megaphyll) leaf type. This is a relatively large leaf that usually possesses several strands of vascular tissue, as well as a leaf gap.
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16
Q

Monilophytes

A

• common name: ferns (in a broad sense)

• monophyletic group comprising members of
5 orders

  • mesarch protoxylem of stems
  • most members possess a stem vasculature known as a siphonolostele
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17
Q

Steles

A

Another name for the vascular cylinder is the stele. There are several types of steles ranging from primitive to advanced.

18
Q

Protostele

A
  • A protostele is the simplest and most primitive type of stele. It consists of a solid cylinder of vascular tissue in which the phloem either surrounds the xylem (haplostele = A, actinostele = B) or is interspersed within it (plectostele = C).
  • Protosteles are found in most roots. In stems, protosteles are usually found in extinct vascular plants, psilophytes, and lyco
19
Q

Siphonostele

A

A siphonostele is characterized by having a pith surrounded by vascular tissue. The phloem tissue may be found only on the outside of the xylem (ectophloic = D) or on both sides (amphiphloic = E). A dictyostele (F) is characterized by a system of strands of vascular tissue around a pith.

20
Q

Eustele

A

A eustele (G) is also characterized by a system of strands of vascular tissue around a pith. An atactostele (H) is characterized by vascular tissue scattered throughout the pith. These two stele types are found in seed plants.

21
Q

What are the shared apomorphies of Ophioglossales and Psilotales?

A
  • roots unbranched, root hairs absent
  • gametophyte subterranean, mycorrhizal
22
Q

Order Ophioglossales

A

• common name: ophioglossoid ferns

• fronds are dimorphic, with a sterile segment
and a fertile segment

• eusporangium (large sporangium with wall comprising more than one cell layer; formed from more than one epidermal cell; may have 128-several thousand spores; no annulus)

23
Q

Family Ophioglossaceae

A
  • common names: adder’s tongue, grape fern
  • sporangia aggregated into an upright fertile region or spike
  • homosporous
24
Q

Ophioglossum (adder’s tongue)

A
  • several species in North America
  • record for most chromosomes (n=621)!
25
Q

Order Psilotales

A
  • common name: psilophytes
  • stems dichotomously branched
  • enations
  • lack true roots (probably lost)
  • absorptive rhizoids arise from rhizome
  • sporangia arranged in groups of 3’s (synangia)
  • homosporous
26
Q

Family Psilotaceae

A

* Tmesipteris (ca. 10 species)

• Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, New
Guinea
• members have larger leaf-like appendages than Psilotum.

* Psilotum (2 species)

  • common name: whisk fern or whisk broom
  • found naturally in the warmer parts of the southeastern United States
27
Q

Order Equisetales

A
  • common names: equisetophytes, spenophytes, horsetails, scouring rushes
  • homosporous (spores possess chloroplasts)
  • four major apomorphies
  • stems conspicuously jointed, ribbed, often hollow, unbranched or with whorls of branches
  • leaves greatly reduced to a whorl of scales forming a sheath at the nodes.
  • strobili terminal; sporangia attached to sporangiophores
  • spores with four elaters, which coil and uncoil in response to changes in humidity
28
Q

*Calamites *

A

An equisetophyte that took the form of a large tree and was widespread ca. 300 mya during the Carboniferous period. Much of our coal comes from the remains of this plant.

  • several species are native to N. America
  • rough silica- containing stems may have been used by settlers to clean pots and pans.
29
Q

Order Marattiales

A
  • common name: marattioid ferns
  • large pinnate or bipinnate fronds that have circinate vernation (unrolling of the frond during development; produces a fiddlehead)
  • eusporangiate
  • polycyclic siphonostele
30
Q

Order Polypodiales

A
  • common names: leptosporangiate ferns
  • leptoporangium (small sporangium with annulus; formed from one epidermal cell; may have 64-128 spores)
  • sporangia usually grouped into clusters know as sori
  • sori may be indusiate or exindusiate
  • false indusia are present in some groups
  • sporangia possess an annulus, which helps in spore dispersal
31
Q

Family Polypodiaceae

A
  • common name: polypody
  • rhizomes creeping, covered with scales; leaves often simple though usually lobed
  • sporangia forming a mound-like sorus, exindusiate

* Polypodium (75 species)

  • common in the eastern United States
  • strobili have micro- & megasporophylls with micro- and megasporangia
32
Q

Family Osmundaceae

A
  • common name: royal fern, cinnamon fern, interrupted fern
  • leaves pinnately compound, dimorphic, the fertile pinnae differentiated from the sterile pinnae; sporangia large

* Osmunda (14 species) - common in N. America

33
Q

Family Schizaeaceae

A
  • common name: climbing fern
  • vines and grass-like tufted plants
  • leaves dimorphic, some produce sporangia, others do not

* Lygodium (60 species) - found in the eastern United States as far north as Michigan

34
Q

Family Pteridaceae

A
  • common name: maidenhair fern
  • pinnae dichotomously veined
  • sori along the veins, or along the reflexed margins of the pinnae (false indusia)

* Adiantum (200 species) - found throughout much of the eastern United States

35
Q

Family Dennstaedtiaceae

A
  • common name: bracken fern, hayscented fern
  • rhizome creeping; leaves large and divided
  • sori along leaf margin or on back of leaf

* Pteridium (1 species) - common name: bracken fern

  • found over much of the world
  • marginal sori covered by rolled-over leaf blade (false indusium)
36
Q

Family Aspleniaceae

A
  • common name: spleenwort
  • sori round or elongate, indusia kidney- shaped or linear; spores surrounded by a wrinkled or winged sheath-like covering

* Asplenium - both temperate and tropical regions

37
Q

Family Dryopteridaceae

A
  • common name: wood fern
  • sori borne on the veins or at the vein tips

* Dryopteris (150 species) - both temperate and tropical regions

• marginal sori covered by kidney-shaped indusia

* Onoclea - sensitive fern

• sori completely enclosed by leaf material

38
Q

Family Marsileaceae

A
  • common name: water clover
  • aquatic; ground-level stolons produce the leaves, each leaf has two leaflets
  • sporocarps produced

* Marsilea (60 species) - water fern

  • microsporangia and megasporangia are in sori, which are in sporocarps (viable up to 30 years)
  • heterosporous (microspores and megaspores)
  • microsporangium has 32-64 microspores
  • megasporangium has 1 megaspore
39
Q

Family Salvineaceae

A
  • common name: salvinia, water spangles
  • floating aquatics; leaves in whorls of three, two floating and simple, and one very divided and dangling, resembling a root
  • sporocarps produced

* Salvinia - mainly tropical America and Africa

• each plant has two floating leaves and one dissected root-like submerged leaf

40
Q

Family Azollaceae

A
  • common name: mosquito fern
  • floating aquatic; leaves in two rows, scale-like and overlapping, harboring cyanobacterium Anabaena azollae (nitrogen fixation)
  • sporocarps formed

* Azolla

  • often takes on a reddish or reddish green color
  • temperate and tropical areas