Fern Sporophytes

Fern Sporophytes

Like those of higher plants, Fern cells are diploid, which means they have a double set of chromosomes. The plant you see growing represents the sporophyte stage in the Fern's life cycle and fertile fronds produce tiny spores. The spore-forming generation in more ancient forms like the Mosses is attached to the mother plant and is not free-living as it is in the more highly-evolved Psilophytes and Ferns. The tiny sexual stage of a Fern (gametophyte) grows underground and dies off after the daughter plant is produced. [CH] {CB}