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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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| LIMESTONE OAK-FERN | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Gymnocarpium jessoense var. parvulum | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Limestone oak-fern grows from slender, creeping, blackish rhizomes. The fertile and sterile fronds are similar in appearance. The leaf stalks are longer than the blades and are often dark at the base and straw-coloured near the blade. The blades are bipinnately to tripinnately-lobed. The blades are firm and glandular on both sides. The lowest pinnae are half as long as the terminal one and are strongly curved towards the tip of the blade. The sori are rounded and are not covered by an indusium. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Limestone oak-fern grows in woods, particularly on granitic slopes and outcrops | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in northern Saskatchewan in Athabasca Plain, Churchill River Upland, Tazin Lake Upland, and Selwyn Lake Upland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Limestone oak-fern is vulnerable in Saskatchewan because it is rare or uncommon. Local population sizes vary. No immediate threats are known for this species. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY LIMESTONE OAK-FERN | |||||||||
| * Are the blades firm and glandular on both sides? * Are the fronds with sori similar to the ones without sori? * Is the indusium absent? * Did you find it in northern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found limestone oak-fern! | |||||||||
