noun
definition
Any of a group of some twenty thousand species of vascular plants classified in the division Pteridophyta that lack seeds and reproduce by shedding spores to initiate an alternation of generations.
Examples of ferns in a Sentence
Tree ferns are found on the mountains above 4000 ft.
The ferns are most common in the midland zone and in the heavy timber forests.
We played games and ate dinner under the trees, and we found ferns and wild flowers.
This is well seen in many ferns.
The evolution of the vascular structure of the petiole in the higher ferns is strikingly parallel with that of the stem, except in some few special cases.
The relationship with Aepyornis of Madagascar is still problematic. Whilst the moas seem to have been entirely herbivorous, feeding not unlikely upon the shoots of ferns, the kiwis have become highly specialized wormeaters.
The vegetation is almost tropically luxuriant - palms, wild pineapples, and ferns growing profusely, and the valleys being filled with wild beans and patches of taro.
Of the herbaceous vegetation of the more rainy regions may be noted the Orchidaceae, Orontiaceae, Scitamineae, with ferns and other II.
The more common plants in the most characteristic part of this region in southern Arabia are Capparidaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and a few Leguminosae, a Reseda and Dipterygium; palms, Polygonaceae, ferns, and other cryptogams, are rare.
Hooker enumerated twenty-one species of flowering plants, and seven of ferns, lycopods, and Characeae; at least seventyfour species of mosses, twenty-five of Hepaticae, and sixty-one of lichens are known, and there are probably many more.
Cowslips, violets, anemones, buttercups and blood-roots are conspicuous in early spring, the white pond lily and the yellow pond lily in summer, asters and golden-rod in autumn, and besides these there are about 1500 other flowering plants in the state and more than 50 species of ferns.
Ferns and other cryptogamic plants are in great variety and abundance.
The early colonists found quite half the surface of the archipelago covered with dense, evergreen forest, a luxuriant growth of pines and beeches, tangled and intertwined with palms, ferns of all sizes, wild vines and other parasites, and a rank, bushy, mossed undergrowth.
In moist regions ferns and mosses, the arum and other broad flat-leaved plants are found.
Ferns are abundant in the marshes.
The flora consists of 129 species of angiosperms, i Cycas, 22 ferns, and a few mosses, lichens and fungi, 17 of which are endemic, while a considerable number - not specifically distinct - form local varieties nearly all presenting Indo-Malayan affinities, as do the single Cycas, the ferns and the cryptogams. As to its fauna, the island contains 319 species of animals-54 only being vertebrates-145 of which are endemic. A very remarkable distributional fact in regard to them, and one not yet fully explained, is that a large number show affinity with species in the Austro-Malayan rather than in the Indo-Malayan, their nearer, region.
There are many species of forest trees and more than 1300 species of flowering plants and ferns.
But almost everywhere the vegetation serves to smooth the contours of the rugged hills, ferns, mosses and shrubs growing wherever their roots can cling, and leaving only the steepest crags uncovered to form, as in Tahiti, a striking contrast.
The flora is estimated to include 15% of ferns, but they form only the most important group among many plants of beautiful foliage, such as draceanas and crotons.
The southern part of the island has an undulating surface, and is covered either with an open forest or with high ferns.
The Pacific coast Transition zone is noted for its forests of giant conifers, principally Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, Pacific cedar and Western hemlock, Here, too, mosses and ferns grow in profusion, and the sadal (Gaultheria shailon), thimble berry (Rubus nootkamus), salmon berry (Rubus spectabilis) and devils club, (Fatsia horr-ida) are characteristic shrubs.
He was educated at Louvain, and returning to Ireland became a priest at Wexford, and before 1646 was appointed bishop of Ferns.
The island has extensive forests of conifers with an undergrowth of ferns and flowering plants, and bears are numerous.
Ferns, of which there are about 130 species varying from a few inches to 30 ft.
For stove and greenhouse plants, orchids, ferns, &c., labels made of xylonite, zinc and other materials are also used.
The following is a select list of genera of miscellaneous decorative plants (orchids, palms and ferns excluded; climbers are denoted by *; bulbous and tuberous plants by f) Stove Plants.
The best time for a general repotting of ferns is in spring, just before growth commences.
Ferns should not be allowed to become quite dry at the root, and the water used should always be at or near the., temperature of the house in which the plants are growing.
Such ferns as Gymnogrammes, which have their surface covered with golden or silver powder, and certain species of scaly-surfaced Cheilanthes and Nothochlaena, as they cannot bear to have their fronds wetted, should never be syringed; but most other ferns may have a moderate sprinkling occasionally (not necessarily daily), and as the season advances, sufficient air and light must be admitted to solidify the tissues.
Hardy British ferns belonging to such genera as Asplenium, Nephrodium, Aspidium, Scolopendrium, have become fairly popular of late years, and many charming varieties are now used in borders and rockeries.
It should be well shaded, and fine specimens of fancy caladiums, dracaenas, coleus, crotons, palms, ferns and such plants as are grown for the beauty of their foliage, will make a very attractive show.
The fronds of some of these Carboniferous ferns are almost identical with those of living species.
Probably many of the ferns were epiphytic. Pecopteris, Cyclopteris, Neuropteris, Alethopteris, Sphenopteris are common genera; Megaphyton and Caulopteris were tree ferns.
Ericaceae, Pyrolaceae, Gentianaceae, Orchidaceae, ferns, &c. Recent experiments have shown that the difficulties of getting orchid seeds to germinate are due to the absence of the necessary fungus, which must be in readiness to infect the young seedling immediately it emerges from the seed.
Ferns are abundant, and the mimosa rises to heights of from 30 to 60 ft.
In some ferns, however, there seems to be a provision for indefinite terminal growth, while in others this, growth is periodically interrupted.
Some species of saxifrage and of ferns also produce buds on their leaves and fronds.
The different divisions of a cut leaf may be folded or rolled up separately, as in ferns, while the entire leaf may have either the same or a different kind of vernation.
This is especially the case where there is also shade to protect them from the midday sun, as in some of the narrow ravines in the eastern desert and in the palm groves of the oases, where various ferns and flowers grow luxuriantly round the springs.
Above this belt the firs gradually disappear and are succeeded by the shortleaved Pinus montezumae, or Mexican " ocote " - one of the largest species of pine in the republic. These continue to the upper tree-line, accompanied by red and purple Pentstemon and light blue lupins in the open spaces, some ferns, and occasional masses of alpine flowers.
The last-mentioned case has been regarded as representing an apogamous development of the sporophyte from the gametophyte comparable to the cases of apogamy described in Ferns.
Formerly the island appears to have been wooded, but it now presents only a few bushes (Edwardsia, Broussonetia, &c.), ferns, grasses, sedges, &c. The natives grow bananas in the shelter of artificial pits, also sugar-canes and sweet potatoes, and keep a few goats and a large stock of domestic fowls, and a Tahitian commercial house breeds cattle and sheep on the island.
Ferns and mosses are almost confined to the higher ranges.
The plants of the Lower Gondwanas consist chiefly of acrogens(Equisetaceae and ferns)and gymnogens (cycads and conifers), the former being the more abundant.
The same classes of plants occur in the Upper Gondwanas; but there the proportions are reversed, the conifers, and still more the cycads, being more numerous than the ferns, whilst the Equisetaceae are but sparingly found.
Ferns are abundant, but not so varied as in Java.
To enlarge the area, or raise the surface-level where that was necessary, layers of logs, brushwood, heather and ferns were piled on the shallow, and consolidated with gravel and stones.
It consists partly of sandstones with impressions of plants (cycads, ferns, &c.), and partly of clay-beds with coal.
Other ferns, Scitamineae, orchids and climbing Aroideae are very numerous, the last named profusely adorning the forests with their splendid dark-green foliage.
Ferns are more rare, and the tree-ferns have disappeared.