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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE LADY-FERN FAMILY | |||||||||
| The lady-fern family is well represented
in forested regions in Saskatchewan. These plants are different than the
angiosperms, or flowering plants, because they do not produce flowers. Instead,
the reproductive structures are called sporangia, or spore sacs. Each spore
sac contains many spores. The spores will germinate to produce what is called
the gametophyte. The gametophyte will produce an archegonium and an antheridium
which will produce the egg and sperm respectively. The egg and sperm fuse
to form a zygote, which grows into the sporophyte. The sporophyte is the
stage of the life cycle that is referred to below. In the lady-fern family, the leaves are called fronds. The leaf stalk is known as the stipe. The leaves in this family are often divided. The segments created by the first division are called pinnae (pinna sing.); the segments created by the second division are called pinnules (pinnule sing.). The spore sacs are in clusters called sori (sorus sing.). The indusium is the covering on the sorus and may be absent in some species. |
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| LADY FERN | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Athyrium filix-femina var. angustum | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Lady fern fronds are clustered from a short, creeping, densely scaly rhizome. The stalks are dark reddish-brown or black at the base to straw coloured towards the blade. The stalks have dark brown scales. The blades are 1 to 1.5 times as long as the stalk. The leaves are twice divided into segments, i.e. pinnae and pinnules. The pinnae are sessile or short-stalked. The pinnules may be lobed and have a saw-toothed margin. The sori are straight or U-shaped. The spores are yellow. The indusia are attached along one side and can be square toothed or hairy on the margin. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Lady fern grows in moist woods, often along streams. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species and variety is found in east-central Saskatchewan in the Mid-Boreal Lowland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Lady fern is vulnerable in Saskatchewan because it is limited to the east-central part of the province. It is usually locally numerous but within limited localized areas. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY LADY FERN | |||||||||
| * Are the leaf blades 1 to 1.5 times as long as
the stalk? * Are the fronds with sori similar to the ones without sori? * Are indusia present? * Did you find it in east-central Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found lady fern! | |||||||||
