Hello,

This is a darkfield image from a prepared microscope slide labelled
"Fern Spicules." The nominal magnification is about 100X.

I am not knowledgeable about fern reproduction other than to recognize
that this may be a gametophyte or some stage along the way.,

What are these and can anone name the species?

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/nghy/n...rn_spicule.jpg

Thanks for the help.
Aaron

AFAIK spicules have nothing to do with reproduction
PvR

schreef
This is a darkfield image from a prepared microscope slide labelled
"Fern Spicules." The nominal magnification is about 100X.

I am not knowledgeable about fern reproduction other than to recognize
that this may be a gametophyte or some stage along the way.,

What are these and can anone name the species?

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/nghy/n...rn_spicule.jpg

Thanks for the help.
Aaron

These look a lot like peltate trichomes or peltate scales often found
on the undersides of leaves or other plant parts:

http://www.si.edu/scmre/learning/lewisclark.htm

Peltate means umbrella-like and has been used to describe some fern
reproductive structures, such as the indusium of Matoniaceae:

http://lsvl.la.asu.edu/plb407/kpigg/...s&conifers.htm

The term spicule is applied to the skeletons of sponges:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/porifera/porskel.html

David R. Hershey



wrote in message . ..
Hello,

This is a darkfield image from a prepared microscope slide labelled
"Fern Spicules." The nominal magnification is about 100X.

I am not knowledgeable about fern reproduction other than to recognize
that this may be a gametophyte or some stage along the way.,

What are these and can anone name the species?

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/nghy/n...rn_spicule.jpg

Thanks for the help.
Aaron

In article ,
wrote...

These look a lot like peltate trichomes or peltate scales often found
on the undersides of leaves or other plant parts:

http://www.si.edu/scmre/learning/lewisclark.htm

They do. It's not immediately clear that these are from a fern, but
they could easily be. Some Polypodiaceae [in the strict sense] have
leaves well covered with similar small peltate scales [such as the
"resurrection fern", _Pleopeltis polypodioides_ (see below)]. But
then, so are Bromeliaceae and various other angiosperms.

Peltate means umbrella-like and has been used to describe some fern
reproductive structures, such as the indusium of Matoniaceae:

http://lsvl.la.asu.edu/plb407/kpigg/...s&conifers.htm

Well, of course indusia are acessory structures and arguably not
"reproductive" structures themselves, but I suppose that's just
splitting trichomes...

Anyway, these clearly aren't indusia.

The term spicule is applied to the skeletons of sponges:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/porifera/porskel.html

Oddly enough, a very few ferns are characterized by what are called
"spicular cells", a particular type of specialized cells inside the
leaf tissue. It's one piece of anatomical evidence that fits the DNA
evidence linking _Adiantum_ with the vittarioid ferns. Other than
that, there is no such term as 'fern spicules'.

wrote in message
om...
Hello,

This is a darkfield image from a prepared microscope slide labelled
"Fern Spicules." The nominal magnification is about 100X.

I am not knowledgeable about fern reproduction other than to recognize
that this may be a gametophyte or some stage along the way.,

No, they're probably just peltate leaf trichomes or scales.

What are these and can anone name the species?

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/nghy/n...rn_spicule.jpg

Where did the fern come from? What does it look like?

Here's the familiar "resurrection fern", which is one species
covered with peltate scales:

http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/Fern&Gym/F&G017.jpg
http://fig.cox.miami.edu/~scofield/s...podioides.html
http://www.floridata.com/ref/p/poly_pol.cfm
http://www.albion.edu/plants/polypopg.htm
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/imaxxplp.htm
http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/Fern&Gym/F&G016.jpg

cheers