fern

Everyday

1. A fern is a green plant with no flowers and long feathery leaves called fronds. tree →
2. Ferns make new plants from tiny spores, not seeds; the spores grow in brown dots under the fronds. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons on plant groups, ferns are an old group of plants that lived before the dinosaurs; giant tree ferns made coal. They like damp, shady places like woods and rainforests. Young fronds unroll from a curl called a fiddlehead. In New Zealand, the silver fern is a national symbol on sports shirts. Phrases: «tree fern», «fern fronds», «silver fern», «fern spores».

Examples

• Ferns grow in the shady part of the wood. tree →
• A fern has no flowers and no seeds. tree →
• The brown dots under the leaf are spores. tree →
• Dinosaurs walked among giant ferns. tree →
• The All Blacks have a silver fern on their shirts. tree →
• A baby fern frond is curled up like a snail shell. tree →
• She did not seem at all inclined to part with the fern stems. tree →

Note

Plural «ferns». Ferns are not mosses; mosses are smaller and have no real roots. Myth: ferns do not flower at midsummer — that is an old legend.