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Plant Family Collection: Ferns
Because water is the basis of all life, a tour of the Plant Family Collection begins at the Japanese pond. The first plants were algae; from them, terrestrial plants originated. The earliest land plants—the mosses and the liverworts—lack vascular tissue, the portion of a stem that conducts water from the roots to the leaves and usually assists in or acts as the support for the plant.
Among the first vascular plants were the pteridophytes, or ferns, represented by glades of ferns along the shore of the Japanese pond.
The earliest plants did not bear seeds, those typically tiny parcels of life that contain all the fundamental parts of a mature plant—leaf, stem, and root. Among these are the ferns, which instead form spores, simple single-celled reproductive structures. Early ferns first appeared some 300 to 350 million years ago during the carboniferous period.
Like the mosses and liverworts, most ferns are confined to damp and shady areas, because their reproductive cycle requires water. Unlike their early brethren, however, ferns have primitive, though reasonably efficient, vascular systems, enabling some to grow into large tree-like specimens, known as tree ferns.
In the Plant Family Collection, these early plants are represented by the lady fern, sensitive fern, and other ferns growing south of the Japanese pond.
Map of the Garden
The Plant Family Collection is indicated by the orange box. Click on the map to visit other locations in the Garden, or click here to view a larger map.
