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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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| MOUNTAIN BLADDERFERN | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Cystopteris montana | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Mountain bladderfern fronds are scattered along long, creeping rhizomes. The stipes are dark brown to black at the base and green or straw-coloured towards the blade. The stipes have a few tan to light brown scales. The blades are usually divided three times and the ultimate division is lobed. The pinnae may have glandular hairs in the axils. The lowermost pinnae are large and unequal at the base. The pinnules have a saw-toothed margin. The sori are rounded and are covered by a small, whitish, cup-shaped indusium. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Mountain bladderfern grows in moist woods. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species and variety is found in east-central Saskatchewan in the Mid-Boreal Upland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Mountain bladderfern is endangered because it is extremely rare in Saskatchewan. This species is highly restricted to one small area of the province. Mountain bladderfern is usually locally numerous within limited localized areas. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY MOUNTAIN BLADDERFERN | |||||||||
| * Are the fronds scattered? * Are the fronds with sori similar to the ones without sori? * Are the lowermost pinnae very unequal at the base? * Did you find it in east-central Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found mountain bladderfern! | |||||||||
