Ferns are ancient representatives of the flora that have dominated the surface of the globe since prehistoric geological eras. They appeared about four hundred million years ago.

Prehistoric and modern representatives

At a certain period, ferns were the dominant species of ancient flora. These plant species had enormous sizes and incredible biological diversity. Ferns in ancient times had not only herbaceous, but also woody forms.

Modern ferns are modified forms of giants from the group of spore plants that once existed on Earth. However, despite the loss of their former greatness, in certain areas they remain out of competition. Russian forests, which occupy the temperate zone, are covered in places with dense thickets formed by ostrich, bracken and other species.

Habitats

Representatives of the detachment settled all over the world. Everywhere you look in the forests of any continent, you will see ferns. Its species are ubiquitous, they have spread widely across the Earth. The widespread growth of ferns is facilitated by leaves of varied shapes, excellent ecological plasticity, and tolerance to wet soils.

The maximum diversity was observed in those ferns that have chosen humid tropical and subtropical regions, inhabiting damp rock crevices and mountain forested areas. In the temperate zone, shady forests, mountain gorges, and swampy areas became their abode.

Whatever the appearance of the fern, you will definitely notice the plant in both the lower and upper tiers of the forest. Some species, classified as xerophytes, scattered over the rocks and nestled comfortably on the mountain slopes. Ferns from the hygrophyte category settled in the water of swamps, rivers and lakes. Representatives from the group of epiphytes chose to live on the branches and trunks of large trees.

Description

Ferns are vascular plants. This category is a union of ancient higher and modern ferns located in an intermediate niche, on one side of which there are rhinophytes, and on the other, a group of gymnosperms.

Ferns, unlike rhinophytes, have a root system and leaves, but no seeds, unlike gymnosperms. In the Devonian era, the age of fish and amphibians, ferns, evolving, gave birth to the division of gymnosperms, which, in turn, degenerated into the order of angiosperms.

The only class Polypodiopsida, formed by eight subclasses, three of which died during the Devonian, was included in the fern division. Currently, the category is represented by 300 genera, uniting about 10,000 varieties. These spore plants formed the most extensive order.

Each fern has a number of distinctive features. The species are dissimilar in size and appearance, and their life forms and cycles are very different. However, plants have character traits, distinguishing them from representatives of other departments.

Among them there are individuals of herbaceous and woody forms. Plants are formed by leaf blades, petioles, modified shoots, and a root system with vegetative and adventitious roots. The appearance of the fern is the same. A beautiful rosette develops above the underground rhizome, formed by curved pinnate whole-leaf or lanceolate leaves, or rather fronds.

The sizes of plants vary over a huge range: from tiny ones (no more than a few centimeters), crowded into rock crevices or wall masonry, to giant tree-like representatives - inhabitants of the tropics.

Vaii

Ferns lack true leaves. Evolutionary transformations endowed them with prototypes of leaves, looking like a system of branches laid in one plane. Botanists call this phenomenon a flat branch, frond or pre-shoot. The appearance of the fern leaf is made up of complex dissected fronds, which are smooth or pubescent, thin or leathery, light or dark green.

The preshoots, which develop from snail-shaped primordia, are similar to the leaf blades of modern flowering plants. Lacey pinnately complex plane flies are mounted on strong petioles - rachises, similar to twigs. The appearance of a fern leaf on the reverse side in mature individuals is a collection of brown dots, sporangia - containers for spores.

Varieties

The inhabitants of mountains, forests and coastal areas are ferns. The types and names of these plants are to some extent a reflection of their places of growth. Representatives of ferns are classified into forest, rock (mountain), coastal-marsh and aquatic groups. Among forest species, ground cover specimens are included in a separate subgroup. Many of the species are domesticated. They are successfully used in the formation of gardening arrangements.

forest ferns

• The common ostrich has a perfectly funnel-shaped rosette. It is formed by long (up to 1.7 meters) fronds. The appearance of the spore-bearing fern resembles a fountain. Its yellow-green leaves are similar to the ostrich feather that gives its name to the genus.
• The female kochededzhnik is characterized by a spreading tuft of short petioles covered with sparse scales and three-pinnate thin plates. It is this that gives the one meter tall plant its decorative appearance.
• A distinctive feature of the Japanese nomad is the purple color of the veins and silvery shades of the shoots.
• Chartres shield is a compact plant 30-50 centimeters high, with a dark green leaf blade with triangular-ovate or oblong outlines.
• The appearance of the spore-bearing male shield fern is determined by its hard, shiny flat fronds.
• Brown's multi-row plant has a thick ascending rhizome hidden under a powerful, dense dark green rosette of double-pinnate leaves. Long hairs and brown ovate-lanceolate scales completely cover the short petioles, rachis and rhizome of the plant.
• Polygonal bristlecone - the owner of green, leathery, shiny pre-shoots sitting on hairy petioles from which “rags” hang.

• Among the moist, shaded rocks and depressions there is an interesting fern - centipede fern. The plant is also called " deer tongue" It differs from other species in the original tongue-shaped shape of bright green leaves. On the underside, glossy solid fronds are lined with linear sori varying in length.
• When at school in a biology lesson the teacher asks the children: “Describe the appearance of a fern,” as a rule, the students talk about the most common and famous type of plant - the common bracken. Its openwork fronds do not form rosettes. They extend individually from cord-like rhizomes. The leaves, similar to flat umbrellas on a thin long handle, are familiar to many people who take forest walks.

Ground cover ferns

• Hidden among the shady forests is Phegopteris beech - a twenty-centimeter plant with dark green arrow-shaped delta-shaped leaf blades.
• Linnaeus's holocabrous plant is striking with its uniquely shaped fronds, highly branched rhizomes, densely spreading over a vast area. The appearance of a fern leaf perched on a long stalk resembles an equilateral triangle tilted horizontally.
• The pinnately dissected leaf blades with triangular outlines and thin, hard petioles of Robert's holocacia have a dark green color. The species is endowed with a thin short creeping rhizome.
• The average coniogram is characterized by such differences as thin feathery ovoid fronds. The sori located along the lateral veins merge to form continuous stripes.

Rock views

Certain species of ferns grow exclusively in the mountains, inhabiting rocks, gravel and rocky areas of the earth.

• The graceful maidenhair adiantum has an original shape of leaves that merge into an ethereal openwork cloud.
• Glossy simple dark green flatweed - distinguishing feature expressive derbyanka spicata.

• Brittle bladder is a delicate fern. Species of other plants do not have such thin and brittle petioles as those of the bladderwort, with medium-sized fronds dissected into tiny lobes.
• Woodsia elbe, capable of forming picturesque pictures in rocky areas, is endowed with yellow-green oblong-lanceolate leaves.
• The soddy rhizomes of the hairy ossicle with bare pinnate leaves, narrowed upward, are covered with films of blackish shades.
• Rocky outcrops and tree trunks became habitats for the common millipede, which has dense feathery fronds.
• The apothecary plant is recognized as the only dry-loving variety of ferns.

Coastal marsh species

• Without a doubt, the appearance of the spore-bearing fern, the crested shield fern, deserves attention. In dense, leathery, lanceolate leaves, the lobes have triangular and ovoid shapes.
• Representatives of Telipteris marshes, merging, form original rafts on the water surface.
• Royal osmunda is characterized by the formation of a powerful rosette-tussock, including dying double-pinnate fronds.
• The rosette of onoklea sensitive is assembled from leaves of two types. The fronds differ in the shape of their leaf blades.
• Sphagnum bogs are often overgrown with Woodwardia virginia - large plant with identical double-pinnate dark green leaves and deep brown shiny petioles.

Aquatic species

• Salvinia is a rare water-dwelling fern that needs protection. Kinds aquatic plants often outwardly they do not look at all like their brothers who settled in forest areas. The shape of salvinia fronds resembles water lily leaves.

• A small plant - Marsilia quatrefoil - with broadly wedge-shaped, entire-edged floating leaves and a branching rhizome has tiny sporocarps, united in 2-3 pieces, clinging to one leg at the base of the petiole. The outlines of its fronds bear a striking resemblance to clover leaves.

One of the oldest plants on our planet is the fern. It grows both in and in swampy areas. Today, more than 20 thousand species of this unique plant are known.

We will look at the name of ferns and their structure in detail in this article.

Description

Representatives of the fern order belong to the department They have, which delivers substances and water to all organs. Plants consist of roots, stems and well-developed leaves. It has no flowers or seeds. We will look at the names of fern organs in more detail below. These plants can be found in almost every corner of the globe. However, in the humid tropics a large number of them are concentrated species diversity. In size, these plants range from very small (a few centimeters) to quite tall and powerful (up to 20 meters).

Names of fern organs and structures

Roots. In this plant they are accessory. This means that the root practically does not develop; instead, shoots and leaves are formed. The stems are quite diverse, both in internal structure and in appearance. In some ferns they can be creeping or climbing, but the most common are ordinary straight ones. They extend upward from the stem large leaves. They perform the functions of sporulation and photosynthesis. Sporophylls mature on the underside of the leaves. Once on the ground, the “female” spores germinate into shoots, which are small plates. Typically, their diameter is no more than one centimeter. On the surface of the plates are the so-called “female” genital organs. From male spores, microthicknesses are formed in which sperm mature. They are carried by the wind, falling on trees, grass, etc. After the shell ripens and ruptures, the “male” seeds find themselves in the external environment. With water, the sperm enters the female thallus. This is how a new plant appears. At the same time, the heart-shaped outgrowth withers and dies. Some ferns can reproduce vegetatively. In this case, new plants are formed on old leaves lying on the ground. Over time, they will take root in the soil and sprout.

Ferns do not have a cambium. That is why their strength and growth are limited, and annual rings do not form on the stem. These are such unique plants - ferns.

Types and names

Some representatives of this order are purely decorative. Other ferns, photos and names of which are described in this article, are distinguished by their healing properties. Still others are widespread in the culinary arts (bracken, ostrich, brown osmundra). There are also poisonous plants, for example, depending on their habitat, they are divided into terrestrial and aquatic. There is also another large group - tree-like ones.

Nephrolepis

This amazingly beautiful indoor plant is native to tropical America. It has long, arched fronds with luxurious wavy leaves.

Common ostrich

This plant got its name due to the similarity of the leaves to the shape of ostrich feathers.

It grows on the outskirts of swamps, in damp forests and floodplains. Reproducing quickly, the plant forms dense thickets. It is the ostrich that florists use to make bouquets and flower arrangements.

Female Kochedyzhnik

Grows in gray, dark places. It can be seen in ravines and forest peat bogs. Kochedyzhnik forms hummocks in swampy areas. Its heavily dissected leaves are light green in color. In winter they die off. The root is short but quite thick. In spring, new young leaves begin to grow. The plant reproduces by spores.

Phlebodium aureus

This plant grows on trees, attached to the trunk with “legs”. It has a creeping rhizome with soft brown-golden scales, from which feathery leaves about 1.5 meters long extend.

Orlyak

The height of this plant can reach more than 60 centimeters. It is found almost everywhere, even on dry and poor soils. The fern has a horizontally branched long rhizome, from which yellow single leaves extend. The roots of this plant have healing properties and are used in medical science.

Maidenhair

People call this plant "Venus hair".

It has very thin and long (up to 35 centimeters) light green leaves located on black stems. Adiantum loves partial shade. It can be grown on personal plots or at home.

Shieldweed

In nature, this plant grows in the mountains among stones or in a shady forest. In height it can reach from 30 to 150 centimeters. The shield plant has a powerful rhizome, from which leaves arise on long petioles, forming a goblet-shaped rosette. The plant develops very slowly. The name of ferns in some cases is due to their biological features. This can be said about the shield plant. On the underside of the leaves of the plant there are spore-bearing organs, covered with kidney-shaped plates, like shields. This feature gave the name to the fern. The plant is poisonous. Nevertheless, many healers use its rhizome to make medicinal potions.

Family Cyathaeaceae

Includes more than 600 plant species. These tree ferns are found primarily in humid tropical zones. The height of plants can reach more than twenty meters. The stability of the fern is possible due to the dense plexus of hard adventitious roots that make up the cover of the trunk.

The leaves are usually pinnate and very large. Their length can be up to six meters. Some types of ferns (names and photos are presented on this page) have oval areas of air-bearing tissue at the point where the segments are attached to the stem of the leaf blade. They serve for gas exchange. In some plants, air-bearing areas protrude above the leaf.

Family Cybothiaceae

They grow mainly in the forests of Asia, Central America, Mexico, Southern China and others. Representatives of this family have a straight stem. Leaves are double or triple pinnate. The top of the trunk is covered with a protective cover consisting of soft long hairs. The young leaves of this plant can be eaten.

Tyrsopteris

A representative of this family, the fern Thyrsopteris elegans, grows only on the island of Juan Fernandez, located in the Pacific Ocean near South America. Its height is about 1.5 meters.

Culcitic

They are represented by large ferns with a creeping trunk. The length of the plant, as a rule, is no more than 50 centimeters. Leaves - 4, 5 pinnate, small (up to 3 cm). Petioles are light or dark brown. The leaves are not fully expanded, covered with light brown or reddish hairs. The names of fern plants of this species are as follows: Culcita coniifolia (grows in northern and central South America) and C. macrocarpa (in the Macaronesian floristic region). The number of this species is steadily declining.

That is why this species of fern is included in the list of protected plants in Portugal and Spain.

Water

The names of ferns - Marsilea and Salvinia - belong to the third group of plants of the species we are describing. They live exclusively in bodies of water.

Marsilea quatrefoil

This small perennial plant has wide, blade-shaped, rounded leaves. Sporocarps of 2-3 pieces are located at the base of the petiole. Each of them is about 5 millimeters long. Usually the height of marsilea does not exceed twenty centimeters. However, the petioles of the floating leaves can reach 80 cm, and the rhizome - about 1 meter. Typically this type of fern is used to decorate ponds.

Salvinia

This plant is rare and needs protection. Very often, salvinia is grown specifically for landscaping aquariums. The plant can be seen in ponds of botanical gardens. Outwardly, it does not look like the usual ferns. The stem of salvinia is thin and long (about 15 cm). The leaves are collected in threes. Two of them are solid, elliptical in shape with a heart-shaped base. The third leaf is underwater. It is covered with hairs and dissected into thread-like strips similar to roots.

This leaf sucks in nutrients and water.

Indian

The name of ferns of this species is known firsthand to lovers of aquarium flora. The plant grows in tropical regions of the world. Its light green leaves are beautifully dissected. Under favorable conditions, they can reach a height of 40-50 centimeters.

Thai

The plant's homeland is Southeast Asia. The fern has corrugated, lanceolate, rigid leaves that can reach thirty centimeters in height. They are attached to a dark green, strong rhizome.

Ferns (Polypodiophyta),or fern-like- These are spore-bearing terrestrial plants with strongly dissected, pinnate leaves. They live on land in shady places, some in water. They spread by spores. They reproduce asexually and sexually. Fertilization in ferns occurs only in the presence of water.

Ferns grow in shady forests and damp ravines - herbaceous plants, less often - trees, with large, strongly dissected leaves.

Ferns are widespread throughout the globe. They are most numerous and diverse in Southeast Asia. Here, ferns completely cover the soil under the forest canopy and grow on tree trunks.

Ferns grow both on land and in water. Most are found in moist, shady areas.

All ferns have a stem, roots and leaves. The strongly dissected leaves of ferns are called fronds. The stem of most ferns is hidden in the soil and grows horizontally (Fig. 80). It is unlike the stem of most plants and is called a rhizome.

Ferns have well-developed conductive and mechanical tissues. Thanks to this, they can reach large sizes. Ferns are usually larger than mosses, and in ancient times reached a height of 20 m.

Conductive tissue in ferns, mosses and horsetails, through which water and mineral salts move from the roots to the stem and further to the leaves, consists of long tube-shaped cells. These tubular cells resemble vessels, which is why the tissue is often called vascular. Plants that have vascular tissue can grow taller and thicker than others because every cell in their body receives water and nutrients through the vascular tissue. The presence of such tissue is a great advantage of these plants.

The stems and leaves of ferns are covered with moisture-impermeable covering tissue. This tissue has special formations - stomata, which can open and close. When stomata open, water evaporation accelerates (this is how the plant fights overheating), when they narrow, it slows down (this is how the plant fights excessive moisture loss).

Asexual reproduction

On the underside of fern leaves there are small brownish tubercles (Fig. 81). Each tubercle is a group of sporangia in which spores mature. If you shake a fern leaf over white paper, it will become covered with brownish dust. These are spores spilled out from sporangia.

Spore formation is the asexual reproduction of ferns.

Sexual reproduction

In dry, hot weather, sporangia open, spores spill out and are carried by air currents. Having fallen on moist soil, the spores germinate. From the spore, by division, a plant is formed that is completely different from the plant that produces the spores. It looks like a thin green multicellular heart-shaped plate measuring 10-15 mm. In the soil it is strengthened by rhizoids. On its lower part, organs of sexual reproduction are formed, and in them are male and female reproductive cells (Fig. 82). During rain or heavy dew, sperm swim up to the eggs and merge with them. Fertilization occurs and a zygote is formed. From the zygote, a young fern with a stem, roots and small leaves gradually develops through division. This is what happens sexual reproduction(see Fig. 82). The development of a young fern is slow, and many years will pass before the fern produces large leaves and the first sporangia with spores. Then new plants with sexual reproductive organs, etc., will appear from the spores.

Male shieldweed grows singly or in small groups in shady deciduous and mixed forests. Its underground stem is a rhizome, from which adventitious roots and leaves arise.

There are also other types of ferns: in pine forests- bracken, in spruce forests - needle-necked shieldweed, on the swampy banks of rivers - marsh telipteris, along the ravines - common ostrich and female stumpweed (Fig. 83).

Some ferns, such as salvinia and azolla (Fig. 84), live only in water. Often, aquatic ferns form a continuous cover on the surface of lakes.

water ferns

Salvinia

Salvinia leaves are arranged in pairs on a thin stem. Thin threads extend from the stem, similar to branched roots. In fact, these are modified leaves. Salvinia has no roots. Material from the site

Azolla

The small free-floating Azolla fern is used in Southeast Asian countries as green manure in the rice fields. This is due to the fact that Azolla enters into symbiosis with the cyanobacterium anabena, which is able to absorb atmospheric nitrogen and convert it into a form accessible to plants.

Ferns are components of many plant communities, especially tropical and subtropical forests. Like other green plants, ferns produce organic substances through photosynthesis and release oxygen. They provide habitat and food for many animals.

Many types of ferns are grown in gardens, greenhouses, and residential premises, since they easily tolerate conditions unfavorable for most flowering plants. Most often, ferns from the genus Adiantum are grown for decorative purposes, for example, Maidenhair, Platycerium, or antlers, Nephrolepis, or sword fern (Fig. 85). Ostrich birds are usually planted in open ground (see Fig. 83, p. 102).

- one of the oldest groups perennial plants, which arose long before the development of flowering crops on the planet. These plants have a peculiar structure, which is in no way similar to the structure of flowering plants.

Contrary to misconception, ferns never bloom. In the wild, they reproduce with the help of spores located in the lower part of the leaves in the form of specific clusters (soruses), covered with films. The spores fall to the ground and a small leaf plate grows from them, which produces reproductive cells.

Ferns do not have true leaves (unlike flowering ones), but instead they have peculiar leaf plates or, as they are correctly called, fronds. Among the variety of fern species, there are many decorative specimens that are widely used in landscape design.

Thanks to their unusual, exotic appearance, ferns can become a real decoration for the garden and give any area an aesthetic and slightly mysterious look. They look great both in group plantings and as single tapeworms. Their fronds go well with many floral and ornamental plants, creating a spectacular background.

At the same time, each type of fern has its own unique personality and stands out against the background of other garden plantings. Among ferns there are garden plants with different names that differ in size and color.

They can be giant giants, or small, lacy, graceful plants. All ferns have one main advantage - the ability to grow and develop in shady and damp places.

Did you know? Hundreds of millions of years ago, during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras, many ferns were large trees. It was their pressed wood that subsequently became the basis for the formation of coal.

Below are examples of the most common of the many types of fern, each of which has its own name, with a description of the type and photo.

"Ostrich feather", "common ostrich", "velamkuch", "black fern", "German ostrich" - These are all names of the same representative of the most spectacular ferns. This is a fairly tall plant, reaching a height of 100-135 cm, with a short and strong rhizome.

The ostrich has two types of leaves: sterile (numerous, feather-like, up to 150 cm in length, which form a funnel), and spore-bearing (inside the funnel there are 2-3 smaller, unusually shaped leaves). This fern prefers fertile soils, well moistened, but without stagnant water. In cultivation it is quite unpretentious and stable, but in conditions of strong shading it can die from lack of lighting.

With abundant watering it grows very quickly. The common ostrich is not susceptible to pests and diseases. It reproduces traditionally - by spores, as well as by dividing the root and underground shoots. This type of fern received its name due to the similarity of the spore-bearing leaves of the plant with ostrich feathers. It is also popularly known as “forest malt”, “paperrushina”, “common coward”.

Ostrich feather is one of the most common types of fern in landscape design. It is planted mainly in partial shade, near artificial reservoirs, on alpine roller coaster, in greenhouses or in ordinary pots when grown indoors.

In addition, this is an excellent option for mixed borders, and between such ferns it is good to plant early flowering plants, for example, snowdrops or crocuses, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, etc. Since these flowers bloom from April to June, and after flowering they lose their aesthetic appearance, the opened fern will cover them and correct the overall picture.

However, the common ostrich is not only characterized by decorative properties, after all it is also an edible plant. In the spring, from young, not yet developed shoots, no more than 10-20 cm long, canned food is made or frozen in briquettes (of course, in our country fern is not used as often as food as in the north-eastern and middle-eastern countries).

Also this type fern successfully also used in folk medicine, as an anticonvulsant, sedative, astringent and antispasmodic.

Debryanka spicata, scientific name "blechnum spicata", - a rather rare representative of ferns and is protected by law in some European countries. The name of the plant comes from the word “wild,” which means hollow, ravine, overgrown valley.

This is due to the fact that debryanka grows mainly in dense shady forests, and it was called spicata for its spicate, linear, feathery fronds that emerge directly from the rhizome. Being a large, palm-like plant, dobryanka has meter-long leaves.

The stem is a modified rhizome, which can reach a height of about 50 cm (in old plants), and is covered with brown scales. The fronds are pinnate, linear-lanceolate, dissected, up to 50-60 cm in length.

In the wild, this species grows in spruce, fir, and sometimes coniferous forests of the Carpathians and the Caucasus, as well as in some areas of Western Europe, East Asia and North America.

Ferns of this species are quite capricious to grow; they do not tolerate cold and drafts. They constantly need increased moisture, although they do not like spraying.

-another variety of fern , belonging to the Kochedyzhnikov family. It has lacy and graceful pale green foliage that contrasts with the rough leaves of the male shield plant. These two species often grow side by side, which is why they have long been called “male” and “female.” However, biologists consider such names to be incorrect for ferns that reproduce by spores.

The female kochedednik grows in partial shade and in shady damp places, in ravines and forest peat bogs, in mountain and lowland forests. This species received the name “kochedyzhnik” because it forms hummocks in swamps. Kochedyzhnik reaches a height of 30 to 100 cm, has twice and thrice dissected fronds, collected in a spreading bunch. The spores on the bottom of the leaves are covered with a fringed veil. The rhizome of this species is thick and short. The fern can easily grow in one place for up to 10 years and is capable of reproducing by self-sowing.

The peculiarity of this species also lies in its ability to maintain a fresh, as if newly opened appearance throughout the entire season, which is facilitated by constantly growing new leaf plates. This feature distinguishes it, for example, from the same famous ostrich, whose fronds form only in the spring. During wintering, the leaf blades of the nomad die off.

This exquisite type of fern is good for growing in the garden and looks great in shady corners. garden plot close to the hosts. Especially popular with landscape designers nomads are silver and purple in color.

Did you know? There is a long-standing popular belief about the women's nomad, which says: if on the night of Ivan Kupala you sit in the thickets of this fern, covered with a homely tablecloth, then you can see the future.

- rare view ferns that grow in rock crevices and have another name - “sweet root”. It is distributed in forest, mountain forest, subalpine and mountain tundra zones of temperate latitudes. Popularly known as "oak fern", "ground fern" and "viper grass".

This is a low-growing plant, with dense, leathery, multi-lobed leaf blades reaching up to 20 cm in length. The leaves are evergreen and retain their color through the winter. The creeping rhizome, shaped like an arthropod, is covered with brown scales and has a sweetish taste due to the content of glycosides. For this reason, this type of fern is called sweet.

Centipede spores are located below, along the central vein in two rows, have a yellowish-golden color and ripen in early summer. The common centipede is very sensitive to light and trampling.

The species is widely used as an ornamental garden plant, especially when creating a collection of ferns in the garden . It is cultivated both in greenhouses and in open ground when organizing landscape compositions.

The rhizomes and leaves of the common millipede have medicinal properties and they are successfully used in homeopathy and traditional medicine. The plant is used as an expectorant, emollient, analgesic, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, choleretic, diaphoretic and laxative. Essential oil is produced from this fern, which is also used in medicine.

Important! Can not use green plant in raw form in medicinal purposes because it is very poisonous.

- the most common fern of temperate latitudes, which naturally grows in shady forests, rocky hills and mountains. The name of the species has an ancient Roman ritual origin, given in comparison with another, often encountered species, which was distinguished by delicate, openwork, light green fronds. The latter was called female, and the one that had coarser, darker leaf plates was called male.

Male shieldweed is a beautiful and unpretentious fern, reaching a height of 30 to 150 cm. It has a powerful rhizome, light green, double-pinnate leaf plates, which, located on long petioles, form a glass-shaped rosette. The spores are located on the underside of the frond and are protected by kidney-shaped, thyroid-shaped veils. For this feature, the species was nicknamed the shieldweed.

Shield fronds grow very slowly and in the first year form leaf primordia at the top of the rhizome. In the second year of growing season, the leaves become characteristically snail-shaped and densely covered with protective scales. And only by the third year, the leaf plates of the male shield unfold and reach their full development. In mid-summer they scatter spores and die off by autumn. This species reproduces mainly by root division.

Male shieldweed is widely used as an ornamental garden plant, and also as a component for growing garden epiphytes (a component of the epiphytic substrate - fern roots).

Did you know?-has long been a favorite plant of many people, popularly called “Perunov fireflower”. He was credited magical properties and they believed that this fern blooms on the night of Ivan Kupala. Whoever found the color of a fern that night was given the gift of foresight and knowledge of the universe. Fireflower supposedly could make a person invisible, give power over evil spirits and bestow fabulous wealth and happiness.

bracken fern -a very beautiful species, well known to amateur gardeners. It forms lush thickets almost everywhere: in the forest-tundras of Siberia and Canada, in the dry forests of Europe, as well as in Australia. Bracken does not grow in the wild only in very dry steppe areas and deserts.

The name of this type of fern comes from the shape of the leaf blade, because translated from Greek, the word pteris means “wing”, and the Latin aquila means “eagle”. Bracken fronds have a specific odor, contain tannins and have anti-putrefactive properties. Because of this, fruits and products are often wrapped in bracken leaves for greater preservation.

However, bracken is poisonous to pets. The ash of this type of fern contains a lot of potassium, so it is often used in gardening as a compost additive.

Unlike the ostrich, the bracken is a short fern and reaches a height of no more than 70 cm. It is unpretentious and can grow on fairly poor, dry soils. The bracken rhizome is long, horizontal, very branched. The fronds are rigid and have a large triple-pinnate plate. At the base lower leaves there are nectaries with a sweetish liquid that attracts ants. The edges of bracken leaf blades are rolled up, thus covering the spores at the bottom of the leaf.

Despite the beauty of this type of fern, it is rarely planted in the garden or country house. Unless the site is close in style to natural, with a predominance of birch or pine trees. Then the bracken thickets will look quite impressive.

The rhizomes of this species are different medicinal properties. In folk medicine, bracken is used to treat coughs, scrofula, joint pain and prostatitis, and in some countries it is even protected.

In many countries, such as China, Korea, Japan, and some countries in South Africa, young leaves and shoots of bracken are used as food, as a vegetable, like asparagus. Having previously kept the shoots in salted water, they are fried, put in salads, used as a filling, seasoning, and prepared in salted and pickled form. The crushed rhizomes are used for baking bread. The plant is also used as an insect repellent and as a raw material for making glue.

This type of fern can decorate any interior. In the wild it grows in the forests of Ukraine, Russia, Japan, Korea, China, as well as in the rainforests of South Africa. Unlike its counterparts, cirtomium is able to tolerate shade, dry air, and lack of moisture well. This species has scaly, orange roots that are almost entirely underground.

The fronds are large, shiny, gray-green, curved, leathery, pinnately dissected, grow directly from the ground, and are located on a long petiole. On their underside there are spores. The length of the leaf plate together with the petiole reaches 50-60 cm, and the fern itself reaches 35-60 cm in height. Young plantings grow slowly, and when grown indoors this species is more modest in size.

- one of the most beautiful views ferns, with small, graceful, openwork leaves. Grows in deciduous forests North America and East Asia.

This plant is spherical in shape, reaches a height of 60 cm and has flat, fan-shaped leaf blades on thin, black petioles. The fronds are light green, round in shape, pinnately dissected, and arranged horizontally. The sori are located along the edges of the pinnate leaf blades and are covered with the folded filmy edge of the leaf, brown in color. This is a very winter-hardy species, able to withstand frosts down to -35 °C.

Adiantum stopoformum retains its decorative effect throughout the entire season: from May until the first frost. It propagates well by dividing the bush, which is best done at the end of summer. Prefers shade, fertile, loose, slightly acidic soils and moderate humidity. Since the adiantum is very spectacular, it is better to plant it in plain sight, in the central parts of shady flower beds. Looks good on rocky gardens and on the terraces.

The plant has medicinal properties that allow it to be successfully used in Chinese medicine as an expectorant. In the USA and Canada, fresh fern leaves are chewed for stomach diseases, and an infusion of leaf blades is used as an emollient and expectorant for chronic diseases of the respiratory organs.

An infusion of leaves is also used to rinse hair. In Canada, Japan and the Hawaiian Islands, fern petioles are often used as finishing material for wicker products.

Asplenium or ossicle -It is a common type of garden fern whose main differences are its leaves, which are unlike those of other ferns. It is thanks to this feature that aspleniums are very common in indoor growing conditions.

Aspleniums have a short, creeping, scaly rhizome and large, light green leaves. various types, assembled into a socket. The fronds are long, with wavy edges, pinnately dissected, triangular, xiphoid in shape. The length of the leaf blades can reach 75 cm. In the center of the light green leaf blade there is a brownish midrib. Asplenium leaves are very delicate and do not like to be touched by hands. The spores are located, as in all species, on the underside of the frond.

The Asplenium species has many varieties (about 800), of which the most common are Asplenium nested, Asplenium viviparous, Asplenium South Asian, Asplenium black and Asplenium bulbous.

With timely and proper care, this species is quite unpretentious, but does not like spraying, however, like many other ferns. Reproduces by spores and brood buds.

Among the residents of New Zealand and the Indian Ocean islands, asplenium is used at important celebrations and events: it is used to decorate the path of newlyweds, the ward of a woman in labor, and also to see off on their last journey. Proven and healing properties asplenium, it has an antibacterial, antispasmodic and antiviral effect, and also removes mucus from the body and cleanses the respiratory tract. helped

Ferns are the most numerous division of higher spore-bearing vascular plants. These are the oldest inhabitants of our planet. No matter how much the climate on Earth has changed, among the huge number of plant species, only ferns have been able to adapt. They have survived to this day, growing in all climatic zones and striking in their diversity. People have long treated ferns in a special way, distinguishing them from other plants. Relict plants of the Mesozoic era, contemporaries of dinosaurs, living fossils - all this can be said about ferns.

Fern - a perennial herbaceous plant from the family of true ferns - has a strong, obliquely growing rhizome with an aboveground stem up to 1 m thick. The rhizome bears a bunch of pinnately dissected leaves. On their lower part there are clusters of sporangia (soruses). Ferns (Polypodiophyta) belong to the oldest groups higher plants. Ferns belong to the Fern division; there are approximately 12 thousand species of them. IN indoor floriculture, in accordance with the accepted systematization, ferns belong to the group of decorative leaf plants.

POTTED FENS

Many decorative types ferns belong to different classes, orders, and families. Ferns are very widespread; in fact, they grow all over the globe and are found in a wide variety of places. But the greatest diversity of these plants is observed in tropical rainforests. The most commonly grown potted ferns are:

• Adiantum capillus veneris;
• Asplenium bulbiferum;
• Nephrolepis exaltata;
• Golden polypodium (Polypodium aureum);
• Platycerium alcicorr

The fern itself, in its physical, biological and chemical composition considered a genuine treasure. Fern shoots and rhizomes are used for medicinal purposes. IN medical purposes Fern has been used since ancient times. The properties of the fern were described by Dioscorides, Pliny, Avicenna and others. According to its chemical and biological composition, the fern belongs to radioprotector plants, healers and elixirs. It contains 18 valuable amino acids fructose, sucrose, glucose, arabinose, fiber, ash, protein and amine nitrogen, 40% starch, alkaloids, essential oils, tannins and brackish tannic acid.

Scientists have discovered a species of fern that grows well even in the presence of high concentrations of arsenic in the soil. They assumed that this plant, namely Pteris vittata, can be used to cleanse land and water from THIS TOXIC element or its compounds. Scientists have proposed passing water through reservoirs seeded with this type of fern to cleanse it of arsenic.

Most likely, everyone, without exception, is well aware of the story that once a year on Ivan Kupala, on the very short night year, in a deep forest, under a birch tree with three trunks from one root, a fern blooms. Its flower glows like a flame. If you find this flower, you will have good luck in any matter. And the fern flower is protected by its evil spirits, which does not allow it to be taken out of the forest. Unfortunately, this, although beautiful, is just a legend. Ferns don't bloom, and reproduce by spores.

On the underside of the leaves of most ferns there are special structures called sori, which contain sporangia - organs that form spores. And in some types of ferns, spores are located on special modified leaves.

TYPES OF FERNES AND PLACES OF GROWING

When we hear the word “fern,” most of us imagine a pot of unattractive grass. But few people know that ferns have populated all continents, except, of course, Antarctica, and they feel great in any conditions.

Asplenium nidus

There are giant ferns, for example, Asplenium nest(Asplenium nidus). This plant is a typical epiphyte, native to tropical Asia. Ferns grow on the trunks of large trees. Reaching enormous sizes (diameter - several meters, and weight - up to a ton or more), asplenium breaks even gigantic trees with its weight. We know aspleniums as ordinary houseplants, whose dimensions are much more modest.

Among ferns there are species that live under water, for example, Marsilea quadrifolia. This fern is often used to decorate small ponds on the site, as the appearance is very decorative.

marsilea quadrifolia

The surface of the water is also suitable for the life of ferns - the family that is most famous here is Salviniaceae(Salviniaceae). These plants can be called weeds of tropical rivers. Reproducing in huge quantities, salvinia becomes an obstacle to water transport, interferes with the normal operation of hydroelectric power stations, and clogs fishing nets.

Salviniaceae

Azola caroliniana

Another floating fern - Azola caroliniana, bred in rice fields. This plant has a unique ability to accumulate nitrogen, in addition, Azola suppresses the growth of weeds in rice plantations.

Among the ferns there are dwarf ferns only a few millimeters long. These microscopic plants grow in tropical forests on the surface of stones or the ground, rising to a small height along tree trunks. Among the ferns there are real “trees” - genus Cyathea(Cyathea), whose height reaches 25 meters, and the trunk diameter reaches half a meter.

There are ferns whose leaf petioles can compete with steel in strength - Dicranopteris(Dicranopteris). You can get through the thickets of Dicranopteris only by working hard with a machete, on the blade of which the fern leaves marks, as if cutting real metal wire.

Growing ferns in room conditions came into fashion in the 18th century. At that time, ferns could be seen in elite English salons; they were decorations of expensive hotels and houses of noble people. However, only a few species were grown as ordinary houseplants, because gas combustion products and smoke from coal, which was then used for heating, are extremely poisonous to almost all ferns. Then the British came up with special “fern showcases” (glass boxes framed in cast iron) for ferns, in which they were supported required humidity air and soil.

Flower growers are interested in ferns early XIX century. In Europe, they planted gardens and parks and decorated picturesque shady corners near water bodies. Currently, ferns are highly valued by both professional and amateur gardeners all over the world. For example, in Germany there is a whole network of greenhouses that specialize exclusively in the cultivation and sale of ferns, the leaves of which are then used in making bouquets and various flower arrangements.

It is believed that more than two thousand species of ferns are now suitable for growing indoors. But despite this, resistant cultures of more than four hundred species of ferns have been bred in greenhouses and greenhouses of botanical gardens.

There is no consensus among professionals as to whether these plants are difficult or easy to grow. But one thing is for sure: ferns require constant care.

STRUCTURE OF FENS

Ferns (Polypodiophyta) are a division of higher plants, occupying an intermediate position between rhinophytes and gymnosperms. Ferns differ from rhiniophytes mainly by the presence of roots and leaves, and from gymnosperms - by the absence of villages. Ferns originated from rhiniophytes, to which the oldest Devonian ferns were very close. Some of the most primitive genera were intermediate forms between rhyniophytes and typical ferns). Ferns, like other higher plants, are characterized by an alternation of generations - asexual (sporophyte) and sexual (gameophyte), with the dominance of the asexual generation.

Fern sporophyte - herbaceous or tree plant mostly with large, repeatedly dissected leaves (young leaves are usually snail-shaped). Ferns are characterized by a wide variety of shapes, internal structure and sizes. Their leaves vary from multiple pinnately dissected to whole, from gigantic - 5-6 m long (in some representatives of Marattia and Cyathea) and even up to 30 m (curly leaves in Lygodiu articulatum) to tiny leaves only 3-4 mm long, consisting of 1 layer cells (in Trichomanes goebelianu). The length of the stems of ferns varies from a few centimeters to 20-25 m (in some species of Cyathea). They are underground (rhizomes) and aboveground, erect and climbing, simple and branched. In most sporangia are located on ordinary green leaves; some leaves are differentiated into spore-bearing (sporophylls) and vegetative, green.

Most ferns are homosporous. Among modern ferns, only three small families of aquatic ferns are heterosporous: Marsileaaceae, Salviniaceae and Azollaceae.

LIFE CYCLE OF FERN

So, most ferns are herbaceous plants up to 1 m high, only in the humid tropics do tree ferns grow up to 24 m high, the length of their leaves sometimes exceeds 5 m. The asexual generation of ferns - the sporophyte - has roots, stems and leaves. Stems can be above ground or underground - rhizomes. The leaves (fronds) are large, usually with a blade dissected into lobes, forming a snail when blooming. Ferns have a well-developed conducting vascular system. On the lower surface of the leaf, sporangia are formed, collected in groups (soruses), covered with a blanket (indusium). The spores (n) that ripen in them spill out from the sporangium and germinate on moist soil, forming a prothallus - a gametophyte in the form of a green plate 0.5-0.8 cm in diameter with rhizoids attaching it to the soil. Antheridia and archegonia are formed on the underside of the prothallus. Spermatozoa from the antheridium in a drop-liquid aqueous environment enter the archegonium, and one of them fertilizes the egg, resulting in the formation of a zygote (2n), from which a new sporophyte is formed - mature plant fern.

Ferns are widespread throughout the globe. They are most diverse in tropical forests, where they grow on the surface of the soil, trunks and branches of trees - as epiphytes and as vines. There are several types of ferns that live in bodies of water. About 100 herbaceous species of ferns are found in Russia.