### plant | tracheophyte | fern ally:

Club moss
* Some club moss has growth patterns
* are found on land, especially in warm, wet, shady areas
  - small with rhizomes underground and short, erect branches
  - the only plants with microphylls
  - typically small plants that look like mosses
* can reproduce asexually, by means of vegetative body parts.
* fern ally
* grow in damp places, including in the tropics and on temperate heaths and mountainsides.
* have long, narrow leaves, and produce spores from their cones.
* is ground cover that grows very slowly and contains yellow cones.

### plant | tracheophyte | fern ally:

Horsetail
* Most horsetails grow in wet, swampy areas or at the edge of ponds or lakes.
* are also toxic to livestock
  - among the most recognizeable plant fossils
  - an unusual group of plants that reproduce via spores instead of seeds
  - common in marshes
  - extremely difficult to kill
  - flowerless and seedless, hence, they are in the group of seedless vascular plants
  - herbs
  - homosporous
  - native on all continents except Australasia and Antarctica
  - regular symmetrical plants with jointed stems and circles of leaves
* grow in moist, cool woods and have many delicate branches that circle the shoots
  - rich soils in all parts of the world except Australia
* growing in openings in white spruce forests are attractive to bears in early summer.
* have deep, invasive rhizomes and ahve become serious weds in other parts of the world.
* often grow in sandy places and incorporate silica in their stems.
+ Horsetail, 'Equisetum': Pteridophyta :: Vascular plants
  * Horsetails are native on all continents except Australasia and Antarctica. They mostly grow 0.2-1.5 m tall, though 'E. telmateia' can exceptionally reach 2.5 m, and the tropical American species 'E. giganteum' 5 m, and 'E. myriochaetum' 8 m.

### plant | tracheophyte | fern ally | horsetail:

Field horsetail
* comes in a variety of forms.
* is cosmopolitan in distribution
  - found at a wide range of elevations
  - top-killed by most fires
* native, perennial, rhizomatous cryptogam.

Bracken fern
* are common in many areas of North America.
* contains at least two animal toxins
  - several toxic and carcinogenic substances such as quercetin and aminase
* does indeed contain a carcinogen, that much is clear.
* is tall and abundant along meadow edges and throughout forests.
* major problem in pasture areas, because it is poisonous to livestock.

Deer fern
* are even less abundant.
* is probably top-killed by fire.

Fiddlehead
* are a native fern that is picked just as they emerge from the ground
  - seasonal wild vegetable made available mostly in the USA and Canada
  - completely organic, grown with no additives or artificial fertilizers
  - harvested in the spring before the young fronds start to unfurl
* are the sprout of the ostrich fern
  - tightly coiled young fronds, or croziers, of ferns
* arise in the early to mid-spring.
* get their name because the tip of the fern is curled like a fiddle.

Hardy fern
* are a special group of shade plants that deserve to be grown more widely.
* grow beautifully, usually in shady areas.

Maidenhair fern
* Most maidenhair ferns grow in areas.
* Most maidenhair ferns have fronds
  - properties
* Some maidenhair ferns have high tolerance
  - leaf stalks
  - quality
* differ in price depending on the pot size.

Mature fern
* can become large and difficult to cover with sprays if planted too closely.
* produce fertile fronds with brown patches called sori on their edges or undersides.

Modern fern
* are descended from some of the oldest plants on Earth.
* reproduce by means of spores.