A fern's reproduction is very complicated. It starts out by making sori. Inside the sori there are spores. The spores make gametophytes. The gametophytes look like tiny, tiny, little cornflakes.
Gametophytes are the parent of the baby fern.
The habitat around ferns needs to be marshy or wet so that the gametophyte can travel. They have been on the earth for a long time, even before the dinosaurs. They are still all over the world today. A fern starts its maturing life by having all of its leaves curled up like a fiddle head. Then it uncurls them.