Reub's journey

05 May 2013

Cool primitive plants

 The ferns have been unfolding. 



This pic comes from Book 15 of the 4th edition of Meyers Konversationslexikon (1885–90). Public domain.
This fern-unwinding process never fails to take me back to, oh say the Carboniferous Period 350 million years ago.



 Ferns just look primitive. A child going through her "dinosaur period"  always includes them in her drawings. They belong there!



 Mastodon trunks, right in our back yard.




A related plant, Equisetum (or horse tail), also hearkens waaay back. In those days when coal was being formed these guys grew as big as trees.




There are no seeds or flowers because, like ferns, this is a spore-bearing plant. The strange white cone-like stalk is where the spores are, completely separate from the leaf-bearing stalks.




John Napier developed the logarithm from observations of Equisetum, noting how the spacing of nodes decreases from bottom to top of the shoot.
Equisetum is unaffected by herbicides, and if you think you can get rid of it by pulling it out, well you can't. No wonder it's the single surviving genus of the entire class Equisetopsida.




"A living fossil" is its nickname. Here in Oregon, despite its interesting history, Equisetum is officially called a "noxious plant." Oh well, I still think it's amazing.


22 comments:

  1. BOTH are so cool! we don't see ferns here - just too hot and dry. i think they're so beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lotsa ferns in this part of Oregon; they like the wet winters and dry summers.

      Delete
  2. This is going to sound strange but these plants actually intimidate me a little bit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah. I know what you mean. They've been a good inspiration for various sci-fi pics. They're on the creepy side.

      Delete
  3. Dinosaur plants. Very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not long ago while digging for a proposed apartment building, they found a mastodon skeleton in Corvallis. I found it so easy to imagine mastodons living here! Dinos too.

      Delete
  4. I did not know that about horsetail, that it grew as big as trees back 'then'. It is invasive. You don't want to plant it in the ground unless it's contained by concrete barriers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank god it doesn't grow that big now. It would dominate the world.

      Delete
  5. I never thought about the age of plants. So interesting. I'll have to look for the horse tail plant when I visit Oregon later this month!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It wouldn't surprise me if you have Equisetum in Louisiana. The spore-bearing stalk ("strobilus") appears briefly in the spring & after that you'll only see the green horse tails.

      I look forward to seeing Oregon through your lens!

      Delete
  6. We have cattails around here but I have never heard of horsetails. What a unique and interesting fern.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Look for them along roadsides, in low-lying disturbed areas; you might just find them.

      Delete
  7. love all these and the wonderful pov they were shot from/at ... whatever

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. pov=lying down & getting covered with twigs while shooting up through the leaves...messy!

      Delete
  8. How very cool! We mostly have the ostrich fern, from which we get fiddleheads if we find them at the right time. Yum!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've never eaten fiddleheads, but I hear they are quite a delicacy. I wonder if these ferns are edible? I don't know.

      Delete
  9. We have both ferns and horsetails here. I will look at them differently now that I know their heritage. Always interesting to read here - thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Gorgeous pics, Kerry. Yup, you and Debbie are definitely related!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Welcome back from Israel, Merry! You and Debbie both. You're right; she & I have similar attractions to certain odd things:)

      Delete

Talk to me.