 Like other ferns, members of the Marsileaceae produce spores, but not seeds when they reproduce. Unlike other ferns, the spores in this family are produced inside sporocarps. These are hairy, short-stalked, bean-shaped structures usually 3 to 8 mm in diameter with a hardened outer covering. This outer covering is tough and resistant to drying out, allowing the spores inside to survive unfavorable conditions such as winter frost or summer desiccation. Despite this toughness, the sporocarps will open readily in water if conditions are favorable, and specimens have been successfully germinated after being stored for more than 130 years. Each growing season, only one sporocarp typically develops per node along the rhizome near the base of the other leaf-stalks, though in some species of Marsilea there may be two or occasionally as many as twenty. The resemblance of the sporocarps to peppercorns gives the family its common name of pepperwort.
