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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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| ROCKY MOUNTAIN WOODSIA | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Woodsia scopulina ssp. scopulina | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Rocky Mountain woodsia is a tufted fern that grows from a compact rhizome. The rhizome scales are uniformly brown, though some may have a dark strip and pale brown margins. The stipes are not jointed above the base and tend to shatter easily. The stipes are brown to dark purple at the base at maturity. The blades taper to a long point at the tip. The fronds are pinnately-lobed to bipinnate and have glands. The pinnae are nearly opposite to alternate. The largest pinnae have five to 14 pairs of pinnules. The pinnules have saw-toothed or square-toothed edges. The sori are rounded and are mostly separate units. The indusium is made of narrow segments arranged in one row. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Rocky Mountain woodsia grows on cliffs, rock outcrops, and slopes. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species and is found in northern Saskatchewan in the Churchill River Upland and Tazin Lake Upland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Rocky Mountain woodsia is endangered in Saskatchewan because it is rare. This species regionally restricted. No immediate threats are known, but are possible in the future. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY ROCKY MOUNTAIN WOODSIA | |||||||||
| * Are the stipes easily shattered? * Are the fronds with sori similar to the ones without sori? * Is the indusium made of hair-like segments? * Did you find it in northern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found Rocky Mountain woodsia! | |||||||||
