Eusporangiate fern

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Eusporangiate ferns are vascular spore plants, whose sporangia arose from several epidermal cells and not from a single cell as in leptosporangiate ferns. Typically these ferns have reduced root systems and sporangia that produce large amounts or spores (up to 7000 spores per sporangium in Christensenia)

There are two extant eusporangiate fern families: the Marattiaceae and Ophioglossaceae, with a total of about 500 species.

[edit] References

• Smith, A. R., Pryer, K. M., Schuettpelz, E., Korall, P., Schneider, H., Wolf, P. 2006. A classification for extant ferns. Taxon 55(3): 705-731.
• Sporne, K. R. 1962. The morphology of pteridophytes, the structure of ferns and allied plants. pp. 127-135. Hutchison & Co. London.