Plants homosporous Habit herbs with creeping, scaly rhizomes, sometimes erect

1. Ferns and Gymnosperms Polypodiaceae -- the polypody family (40-47/700; tropical and subtropical: limited presence in temperate regions) • Plants homosporous • Habit herbs with creeping, scaly rhizomes, sometimes erect • Leaves simple and entire to pinnately lobed to compound arranged alternately; monomorphic or dimorphic • Vernation circinate • Sporangia leptosporangia (very small stalked sporangia with annuli) organized into round or oblong sori or distributed over the underside of leaf blade (abaxially) • Indusia absent • Spores uniform in size, small, golden in color when mature • Gametophytes bisexual, aboveground, thin, green, photosynthetic

2. Ferns and Gymnosperms Pteridaceae --the maidenhair family(40/1000; cosmopolitan) • Plants homosporous • Habit herbs with creeping, pubescent and/or scaly rhizomes, sometimes erect • Leaves simple or 1-6 times compound arranged alternately; monomorphic or dimorphic • Vernation circinate • Sporangia leptosporangia (very small stalked sporangia with annuli) organized into sori along veins, often near leaf margins, or scattered on underside of leaf blade (abaxially) • Indusia absent, or when present, a false indusium formed by the recurved pinnule margin • Spores uniform in size, small; globose to globose-tetrahedral or trigonal • Gametophytes bisexual, aboveground, thin, green, photosynthetic

3. Ferns and Gymnosperms Dryopteridaceae --the wood fern family(60/3000; cosmopolitan) • Plants homosporous • Habit herbs with erect or creeping scaly rhizomes • Leaves simple or 1-5 times pinnatelycompound; arranged alternately; monomorphic or dimorphic; more or less scaly, at least at petiole base • Vernation circinate • Sporangia leptosporangia (very small stalked sporangia with annuli) organized into round to oblong or linear sori away from leaf margins or continuous on underside of leaf blade (abaxially) • Indusia present attached centrally relative to sorus or on 1 side of sorus • Spores uniform in size, small; oblong to reniform in shape • Gametophytes bisexual, aboveground, thin, green, photosynthetic

4. Ferns and Gymnosperms Ophioglossaceae -- the grape-fern family (3-5/70-80; tropic and temperate) • Plants homosporous • Habit herbs with short erect, unbranched stems • Leaves solitary or alternate; sterile frond is simple to much dissected or compound and fertile frond resembles a spike or panicle; dimorphic, but both fronds borne as a pair, and are usually partially fused at the base into a solitary structure • Vernationnot circinate • Sporangiaeusporangia (large sporangia without an annulus)borne on fertile frond • Spores numerous, small, uniform in size • Gametophytes bisexual, fleshy, subterranean, mycotrophic

5. Ferns and Gymnosperms Cycadaceae/Zamiaceae -- the cycad families (11/185; tropical and subtropical) • Plants seed plants, dioecious • Habit shrubs or palm-like trees • Leaves tightly alternate forming a dense terminal rosette; pinnately compound; most with circinate vernation • Pollen borne on strobili (look like cones) with many spirally arranged scales; 6-manypollen sacs per scale (microsporophylls), on underside (abaxial) • Ovulesborne on strobili (look like cones) with many spirally arranged peltate scales or megasporophylls; in Cycadaceae: 2-8 ovules on margins of megasporophylls, in Zamiaceae: 2 ovules underneath peltate-shaped megasporophyll • Seedslarge, drupelike

6. Ferns and Gymnosperms Pinaceae -- the pine family(9-12/210; cosmopolitan) • Plants seed plants, monoecious • Habit shrubs or trees • Leaves alternate or closely fascicled on determinate or indeterminate short shoots; simple and linear to needle-like • Pollen borne on strobili (look like cones) with many spirally arranged scales; 2 pollen sacs per scale, on underside of scale (abaxial) • Ovules borne on cones (scale/bract complex) woody at maturity with many spirally arranged scales, flattened and free from subtending bracts (more or less); 2 ovules per cone scale, on top of scale (adaxial) • Seeds usually winged (rarely wingless)

7. Ferns and Gymnosperms Cupressaceae --the cypress family(includes Taxodiaceae) (28/156; cosmopolitan) • Plants seed plants, monoecious or dioecious • Habit shrubs or trees • Leaves alternate, opposite, or whorled;simple and scale-like, awl-shaped or linear • Pollen borne on strobili (look like cones) with many scales; 2-9 pollen sacs per scale, on underside of scale (abaxial) • Ovules borne on cones (scale/bract complex) usually woody at maturity (fleshy in Juniperus) with several to many scales, flattened or often peltate; wholly adnate to subtending bract; 2-many ovules per cone scale, on top of scale (adaxial) • Seeds small, wingless or narrowly winged

8. Ferns and Gymnosperms Taxaceae --the yew family(5/17-20; widely distributed, mostly northern hemisphere) • Plants seed plants, dioecious (rarely monoecious) • Habit shrubs or trees • Leaves alternate;simple and linear or needle-like, decurrent on twigs • Pollen borne on strobili (look like cones) with several flattened sterile basal scales and 4-32 spirally arranged or whorled, peltate or ± flattened structures called sporangiophores that each bear 2-9 pollen sacs • Ovules solitary or in pairs, borne on reduced cones (one scale) terminal on short shoots • Seeds solitary, surrounded by a green or red fleshy aril

9. Ferns and Gymnosperms Taxaceae --comments • Comments: interesting coniferous family: you commonly see Taxus cultivated around Cornell campus. Which is more commonly planted, female plants or male plants? Taxus brevifolia (from the Pacific Northwest) is the source of Taxol, a treatment for breast cancer. • The aril is bright red in Taxus and green in Torreya, which is named after the famous American botanist John Torrey (1796-1873).