A gametophyte is one of the two alternating multicellular phases in the life cycles of plants and algae. It is a haploid multicellular organism that develops from a haploid spore that has one set of chromosomes. The gametophyte is the sexual phase in the life cycle of plants and algae. It develops sex organs that produce gametes, haploid sex cells that participate in fertilization to form a diploid zygote which has a double set of chromosomes. Cell division of the zygote results in a new diploid multicellular organism, the second stage in the life cycle known as the sporophyte. The sporophyte can produce haploid spores by meiosis that on germination produce a new generation of gametophytes.
The ferns are a group of vascular plants that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissues that conduct water and nutrients and in having life cycles in which the branched sporophyte is the dominant phase.
Alternation of generations is the predominant type of life cycle in plants and algae. In plants both phases are multicellular: the haploid sexual phase – the gametophyte – alternates with a diploid asexual phase – the sporophyte.
Bryophytes are a group of land plants, sometimes treated as a taxonomic division, that contains three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. In the strict sense, Bryophyta consists of the mosses only. Bryophytes are characteristically limited in size and prefer moist habitats although they can survive in drier environments. The bryophytes consist of about 20,000 plant species. Bryophytes produce enclosed reproductive structures, but they do not produce flowers or seeds. They reproduce sexually by spores and asexually by fragmentation or the production of gemmae. Though bryophytes were considered a paraphyletic group in recent years, almost all of the most recent phylogenetic evidence supports the monophyly of this group, as originally classified by Wilhelm Schimper in 1879. The term bryophyte comes from Ancient Greek βρύον (brúon) 'tree moss, liverwort', and φυτόν (phutón) 'plant'.
A sporophyte is the diploid multicellular stage in the life cycle of a plant or alga which produces asexual spores. This stage alternates with a multicellular haploid gametophyte phase.
A pteridophyte is a vascular plant that disperses spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as "cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden.
Marchantia is a genus of liverworts in the family Marchantiaceae and the order Marchantiales.
A prothallus, or prothallium, is usually the gametophyte stage in the life of a fern or other pteridophyte. Occasionally the term is also used to describe the young gametophyte of a liverwort or peat moss as well. In lichens it refers to the region of the thallus that is free of algae.
Plant reproduction is the production of new offspring in plants, which can be accomplished by sexual or asexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction produces offspring by the fusion of gametes, resulting in offspring genetically different from either parent. Asexual reproduction produces new individuals without the fusion of gametes, resulting in clonal plants that are genetically identical to the parent plant and each other, unless mutations occur.
The Hymenophyllaceae, the filmy ferns and bristle ferns, are a family of two to nine genera and about 650 known species of ferns, with a subcosmopolitan distribution, but generally restricted to very damp places or to locations where they are wetted by spray from waterfalls or springs. A recent fossil find shows that ferns of Hymenophyllaceae have existed since at least the Upper Triassic.
Trichomanes is a genus of ferns in the family Hymenophyllaceae, termed bristle ferns. The circumscription of the genus is disputed. All ferns in the genus are filmy ferns, with leaf tissue typically 2 cells thick. This thinness generally necessitates a permanently humid habitat, and makes the fronds somewhat translucent. Because of this membrane-like frond tissue, the plant is prone to drying out. “Filmy ferns” in the taxa Hymenophyllaceae grow in constantly wet environments. Many are found in cloud forests such as “Choco” in Colombia. There are also members of the taxa that can grow submersed in water.
Lophosoria quadripinnata(J.F.Gmel.) C.Chr. is a species of fern that, according to DNA molecular analysis, belongs to the family Dicksoniaceae, where it is placed in the genus Lophosoria. It is found in the Americas spanning from Cuba and Mexico to Chile. In Chile it is present in the area between Talca and Aysén including Juan Fernández Islands. In Argentina it grows only in the humid valleys of western Neuquén and Río Negro Province. Diamondleaf fern is a common name. In Spanish it is known as 'ampe' or palmilla, but one has to remember that there are several species of ferns called "palmillas" that have larger or smaller fronds, and which grow in colder climates. It is a medium-sized plant, growing to about 4–5 feet and even though the rhizome does not grow a trunk, it is clearly related to the other tree ferns due to features that were apparently already present in their common ancestor, like 'pneumathodes', and the rhizome which changed from the dorsiventral symmetry typical of the other ferns, to a radial symmetry typical of tree ferns. Their large and multiple pinnate fronds, with the petiole raised adaxially, and the hairs on the rhizome and lower part of the petioles, also resemble those of tree ferns. To identify the species, use the position and characteristics of the spores found on the fertile fronds. The genus already existed in the Cretaceous Period in southern Gondwana according to fossil remains found in Antarctica. The species is well known as an ornamental plant.
Crepidomanes intricatum, synonym Trichomanes intricatum, is known as the weft fern. The genus Crepidomanes is accepted in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016, but not by some other sources. As of October 2019, Plants of the World Online sank the genus into a broadly defined Trichomanes, treating this species as Trichomanes intricatum.
Diplazium australe, commonly known as the Austral lady fern, is a small fern occurring in eastern Australia, New Zealand and Norfolk Island. The habitat is moist shaded areas, often occurring in rainforest.
Hymenophyllum australe, commonly known as austral filmy fern, is a relatively large rupestral and epiphytic fern, indigenous to eastern Australia and New Zealand. It belongs to the unique Hymenophyllum genus, which are characterised by their thin membranous fronds that are seldom more than one cell thick, with the exception of regions over and around veins. Hymenophyllum australe is distinctive in that the fronds are typically thicker than other Hymenophyllum species, often being up to 2-3 cells thick.
Hymenophyllum flabellatum, the shiny filmy-fern, is a species of fern in the family Hymenophyllaceae. This delicate fern is commonly epiphytic and is between 5 and 25 cm in length. It is distinct, with its thin, one-celled thick, membranous leaves. It is from the family Hymenophyllaceae and is dispersed world wide. The species is dispersed highly throughout Tasmanian rainforests and in the south east of mainland Australia, with small pockets of the population seen in northern Queensland.
Tetraphis pellucida, the pellucid four-tooth moss, is one of two species of moss in the acrocarpous genus Tetraphis. Its name refers to its four large peristome teeth found on the sporophyte capsule.
Vandenboschia boschiana, synonym Trichomanes boschianum, also known as the Appalachian bristle fern or Appalachian filmy fern, is a small delicate perennial leptosporangiate fern which forms colonies with long, black creeping rhizomes.
Hymenophyllum tunbrigense, the Tunbridge filmy fern or Tunbridge filmy-fern, is a small, fragile perennial leptosporangiate fern which forms large dense colonies of overlapping leaves from creeping rhizomes. The common name derives from the leaves which are very thin, only a single cell thick, and translucent, giving the appearance of a wet film. The evergreen fronds are bipinnatifid, deeply and irregularly dissected, about 3 to 6 cm long, 2 cm across with dark winged stipes. In contrast to the similar H. wilsonii the fronds are more divided, flattened, appressed to the substrate and tend to have a bluish tint.
Syntrichia latifolia, formerly Tortula latifolia, and commonly known as water screw-moss, is a species of moss belonging to the family Pottiaceae. Syntrichia species differ from members of Tortula due to synapomorphic leaf qualities, such as different basal and distal cells, as well as different costal cross sections where Tortula has an abaxial epidermis and Syntrichia lacks one.
