Sensitive fern

Sensitive fern

Ferns are sensitive. Plants are especially sensitive. Some may have a resistance to pesticides. Some plants have a sensitivity to cold and wind. They may have what is called a "shade" to protect themselves. The idea of a "shade" is a protective covering. The shade helps cool down and conserve water in the shade.Sensitive fern varies in height from a few inches to more than 3 ft. Its sterile fronds, which wither early, are light to brown-mottled green and deeply cut into long lobes which almost reach the stem. Twice-pinnate fertile fronds appear in late summer and, though dead, remain upright through winter. Fiddleheads appear in the spring in shades of pale red. The roots colonize but are usually shallow, though hefty. The stalks of this fern are said to have a decorative, "beaded" appearance, lending the plant one of its common names, Bead Fern.

Fern

The spermatogenesis process spans formation of spermatogenous cells to the release of sperm. In homosporous ferns, like O. sensibilis L., developing spermatids are surrounded by two different walls at specific development stages, as opposed to a single wall reported in other species. Other differences include a delayed formation of the osmiophilic crest and during sperm release the cap cell removes intact, as opposed to forming a pore or collapsing altogether.Kang, Sang-Wook; Kim, Jung-Lye; Kwon, Gyoo Taik; Lee, Yong-Jin; Park, Jung Han Yoon; Lim, Soon Sung; Kang, Young-Hee (November 2011). "Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis) Extract Suppresses Proliferation and Migration of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Inflamed by Neighboring Macrophages". Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin. 34 (11): 1717–23. doi:10.1248/bpb.34.1717. PMID 22040885. Retrieved 14 November 2021.

Sensitive fern is a very common fern throughout most of the country east of the Rocky Mountains, occurring in wetter spots in the woods. It is an easily recognized fern, with a large leaf that shows the classic ‘dissected’ leaf pattern. In comparison with other ferns, note that the leaf on the right is dissected once into roughly 17 ‘leaflets’ and that each leaflet is serrated with large rounded teeth. In other ferns the ‘teeth’ are more distinct, creating a leaf that may be ‘dissected’ or ‘cut’ multiple times, i.e. the leaflets have leaflets. Sometimes a fern leaf may be cut as many as four times (the leaf has leaflets, which have leaflets, which have leaflets, which have leaflets). (see wood fern).Sensitive fern is a typical photoautotroph, using the energy of sunlight to synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and then using the carbohydrates as both energy source in cellular respiration and as building materials to synthesize a variety of biomolecules. Note that the spore bearing leaf is in a sense a parasite on the photosynthetic part, relying on it for sugars to supply its energy and material needs. The same is true of flowers. (Source:milnepublishing.geneseo.edu)