Ferns and Fertilizer

FERNS AND FERN ALLIES OF IRAN

The pteridophyte account of Flora Iranica (ed. K.H. Rechinger) is still not published. The Caspian forests provide suitable habitats for the growth of many ferns and fern allies in Iran. In semi-arid and mountainous areas of Iran, mesophilous plants are restricted to rock crevices, waterfall proximity, stream banks and lake shores. Based on field collections and study of herbarium specimens in ...

Maidenhair Ferns, Adiantum, are Indeed Monophyletic and Sister to Shoestring Ferns, Vittarioids (Pteridaceae)

Across the tree of life, molecular phylogenetic studies often reveal surprising relationships between taxa with radically different morphologies that have long obscured their close affiliations. A spectacular botanical example is Rafflesia, a holoparasite that produces the largest flowers in the world, but that evolved from tiny-flowered ancestors within the Euphorbiaceae. Outside of parasitic ...

How early ferns became trees.

A new anatomically preserved fern, discovered from the basalmost Carboniferous of Australia, shows a unique combination of very primitive anatomical characters (solid centrarch cauline protostele) with the elaboration of an original model of the arborescent habit. This plant possessed a false trunk composed of a repetitive branching system of very small stems, which established it as the oldest...

Metabolic Adaptation, a Specialized Leaf Organ Structure and Vascular Responses to Diurnal N2 Fixation by Nostoc azollae Sustain the Astonishing Productivity of Azolla Ferns without Nitrogen Fertilizer

Sustainable agriculture demands reduced input of man-made nitrogen (N) fertilizer, yet N2 fixation limits the productivity of crops with heterotrophic diazotrophic bacterial symbionts. We investigated floating ferns from the genus Azolla that host phototrophic diazotrophic Nostoc azollae in leaf pockets and belong to the fastest growing plants. Experimental production reported here demonstrated...

Will Higher Fertilizer Prices Make Site-Specific Fertilizer Management Pay?