When you’re used to working with flowers and seeds, a fern’s reproductive sporangia can seem a bit alien upon observation. And yet it’s such a primitive and perfect system of distribution, how can you not think it elegant? —MN
(Source: justaguywithaphone)
Near immortality! I actually put together a blog post on these things back in February; while I was hunting for information on Selaginella lepidophylla, or the “resurrection plant,” I came upon this fern instead. Seemed a good enough idea at the time to deviate from my plan, and a serendipitous one, at that. I was lucky to find my way to Dr. Robbin Moran, a Mary Flagler Cary Curator of Botany here at the NYBG and a foremost expert on ferns.
My fascination has earned me a mahogany fern as an office companion. Though its rehydration properties are lacking, as its tendency to shrivel and die has shown. —MN
Resurrection fern (Pleopeltis polypodioides)
The name of the fern comes from the fact that it can survive in a dessicated state for up to 100 years. The fern revives itself in the presence of water, restoring its green coloration within 24 hours.
Experiments have shown that the fern can lose up to 97% of its water and still survive, in contrast with the typical 8-12% of most plants. When drying, the plant produces proteins that fold the cell wall in such a way that it can be reversed later.
Crepidomanes minutum is a filmy fern (Hymenophyllaceae) native to the Waimea Valley, O’ahu, Hawaii. The leaf blade of a filmy fern is usually only one cell thick.
Filmy ferns are restricted to rainforest habitats that are continuously moistened by spray from waterfalls or seeps. They have existed since the Upper Triassic 200 mya., when many of the first dinosaurs evolved.
Ever since reading Oliver Sacks’ Oaxaca Journal, I’ve been mulling over the intrinsic beauty and mystery of ferns. And, I know, “mystery of ferns” sounds like an optimistic textbook chapter in a freshman biology course. But plants this ancient can’t help but have a fascinating air about them.
And a leaf blade one cell thick? Imagine if humans had that problem. Full-contact sports would be horrible. —MN
Rosemary (in NYBG pot) and friend
Love you, Mom <3
Happy National Public Gardens Day! A female carpenter bee visiting the pea vines yesterday. She’s California’s largest bee.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
This Mother’s Day don’t just go local—go native: Fill your weekend with flowers and garden parties at the city’s botanical...
Be the change you want to see in the world.
-Gandhi
Lovely tree peonies at the NY Botanical Garden
