SEMINAR ON
OSMUNDA,DRYOPTERIS,
CYATHEA,PTERIDIUM

CONTENTS
1.OSMUNDALES
2.OSMUNDACEAE
3.OSMUNDA (full
description)
4.FILICALES
5.POLYPODIACEAE
6.DRYOPTERIS
7.PTERIDIUM
8.CYATHEA
9.BIBLIOGRAPHY

osmundales

OSMUNDACEAE

OSMUNDA
Sub-Division:-
Pteropsida
Order:-Osmundales
Family:-
Osmundaceae
Genus:-Osmunda

OCCURENCE
Widely distributed in temperate and
tropical regions of world.
Plants prefer cool and shaded habitats.
In India occur in north and north-
western Himalayas upto altitude of
3000m.

Common species
THE GENUS IS REPRESENTED BY 12 SPECIES

EXPLANATION OF Osmunda
regalis
GENUS-
Osmunda
SPECIES-
regalis
ROYAL FERN

SPOROPHYTIC PLANT
BODY

External morphology:-
 Medium sized fern with short upright or semiprostrate rhizomatous stem, clothed
with hard persistant bases of old leaves and numerous dark coloured fibrus roots.
 Body is divided into stem, roots and leaves.
 Stem is semiprostrate showing dichotomous branching.
 Roots develop endogenously and fix the plant to substratum .
 Leaves are arranged in close spiral phyllotaxy at the apex of stem.They are
circinately coiled when young.
 Young leaves are covered with simple uniseriate hairs but mature leaves are
,however, glabourous.
 Venation is open dichotomous.
 Some species are dimorphic show fertile and sterile leaves.
 Fertile leaves appear before sterile one.They are non-green and bear only
sporangia directly on the branches of rachis.

 In the absence of lamina ,sporangia are called marginal.
 In some species dimorphism is shown only by pinnae.

Internal structure
 Rhizome T.S. reveals vascular bundles-horse shoe (xylem are of
various shapes;dictyostele),leaf trace c-shaped,indurated fiber
ring ,cortex , endodermis and pith.
 Leaf structure is divided into petiole and leaflet.
 Petiole T.S. consist of epidermis with hairs ,hypodermis and
ground tissue VB is cresent or horse-shoe shaped;endodermis is
not well defined;mucilage canals also present.
 Leaflet T.S. consist of 2 layered epidermis consist mesophyll
cells in between them contain chloroplast and VB are
concentric present in midrib.
 Root rise endogenously from rhizome; epidermis later replaced
by outer layer cortex; vascular bundle is diarch.

reproduction Sporophytic plant body give rise to gametophytic prothallus .
 Spores are homosporous rise on sporangia having indefinite sori,marginal in
position. Some pinnae are completely or partially fertile.
 Sporangium are stalked, short and a pyriform structure.
 Development is eusporangiate type.
 Spore is spherical and have a triradiate mark.
 Spore on germination give rise to prothallus which is a elongated,
dorsiventral, green and a cordate or heart-shaped structure.
 Prothallus give rise to antheridia and archegonia which produce
spermatozoid and egg respectively.
 On fertilization it form zygote which on germination form sporophytic plant
body.

ORDER:-FILICALES
 Include 300 genera and 9000 species.
 Largest group of pteridophyte.
 Most of these ferns are terrestrial,some are epiphytes on
trunks.
 Leaves are circinnately coiled when young .
 Sporangia are marginal or superficial grouped together in
sori.
 Leptosporngiate type and homosporous.
 Some examples are Pteridium,Adiantum,Dryopteris,etc,.

Family:-polypodiaceae

DRYOPTERIS
Division:Filicophyta
Class:leptosporangiopsida
Order:Filicales
Family:Polypodiaceae
Genus: Dryopteris

OCCURRENCE and uses
 This genus include 250 species around world from which
39 are reported in India.
 Grow well in north,west and eastern Himalayas.
 Found mostly in temperate,tropical and sub-tropical
regions.
 Common species are D.ramosa,D.blanfordii,D.chrysocoma,
D.hirteps,D.pulvinefera etc,.
 D.milneana is applied to boils, ulcers and
wounds.D.filixmass for tapeworm.

SPOROPHYTIC PLANT BODY !

EXTERNAL MORPHOLOGY
 Plant body is divided into root, rhizome and leaves.
 Root and rhizome are subterranean.
 RHIZOME- It is semi-erect,creeping,short and obliquely
placed;sparingly branched or unbranched and densely
covered with brown,soft,broad and fimbricated scales. It
grows by means of apical bud.
 ROOT- Primary root is short lived and replaced by
adventitious roots that rise endogeneously from rhizome;
branched and posses root cap. Have thin,black and wiry
structure that anchor rhizome to the substratum and also
absorb nutrition.

 LEAVES OR FRONDS- Attain a height of 15-50cm
;circinnately coiled when young and become pinnately
compound later;older leaves are distinguished into
petiole and lamina;it may be unipinatte or
bipinnate;every pinna can bear sporangia except
D.cochleata.

INTERNAL STRUCTURE
 RHIZOME-
1. The T.S. of rhizome reveals epidermis, hypodermis and ground tissue.
2. Epidermis is single layer of rectangular cells and cuticle is thick.
3. Hypodermis is made up of few sclerenchymatous cells which provide
mechanical strength.
4. Ground tissue consist of stele and meristele, wholly parenchymatous
structure also help in food storage.
5. Stele is dictiyostele composed of oval or circular meristele arranged in a
ring.It appear as cylindrical meshwork of vascular strand.
6. Meristele consist of endodermis followed by pericycle then by phloem
and xylem.

 ROOT-
1. T.S. reveals epidermis ,cortex,endodermis,pericycle and stele.
2. Epidermis slouged off during downward movement of root and is
repelaced by outer layer of cortex which is known as exodermis or
rhizodermis or piliferous layer which also consist of root hairs.
3. Cortex is divided into paranchymatous and sclerenchymatous
cortex.PARANCHYMATOUS CORTEX is present next to epidermis and
consist of 5-7 layers of thin walled polygonal cells having
intercellular spaces while SCLERENCHYMATOUS CORTEX forms central
mechanical cylinder external to vascular region, cells are polygonal
and devoid of cytoplasmic content.
4. Endodermis consist of barrel-shaped cells having starch and also
consist casparian strips.
5. Pericycle is made up of single layer of thin walled cells.
6. Stele is diarch and dictyostele .Secondary growth is absent.

 LEAF-
1. Its internal structure is divided separately for pinnule and petiole.
2. PINNULE-V.S. reveal 2 epidermal layers of paranchymatous cells and contain
chloroplast,mesophyll enclosing intercellular spaces having glandular
outgrowths which store water and vascular bundle is of concentric or
bicollateral type.
3. PETIOLE-T.S. is semi-circular and have groove on one side .It is divided into
epidermis, 3-7 layered hypodermis and ground tissue .Stele is dictyostelic.

REPRODUCTION
 It takes place by vegetative and sexual method .
 Vegetative by fragmentation and formation of
adventitious buds.
 Sexual reproduction is through archegonium and
antheridium (spores).

Sexual reproduction
GERMINATION AND NEW SPOROPHTIC PLANT FORM
FERTILIZATION AND ZYGOTE FORMATION
ANTHERIDIUM AND ARCHEGONIUM
SPORES
PROTHALLUS

Structure and development of gametophyte
 Every sporophyll has the capacity of producing spore
which on germination produces prothallus which produces
antheridium and archegonium.
 Antheridium consist of wall and three tabular cells (2 ring
cells and a cap cell) and produce a spermatozoid.
 Archegonium consist of 8 neck canal cells, a venter canal
cell and a egg cell .

L
I
F
E
C
Y
C
L
E

Division-Filicophyta
Class-
Leptosporangiopsida
Order-Filicales
Family-
Polypodiaceae
Genus-Pteridium

Distribution and uses
 Cosmopolitan.
 Present in India along Himalayan tracts.
 Hardy plant once grow won’t let other ferns to grow.
 Around the world it only not found in arctic zone and
temperate South America.
 P.aquilinum used in tooth ache and mouth infection.

EXTERNAL MORPHOLOGY
 Plant body is sporophytic divided into root,rhizome and
leaves.
 Rhizome is subterranean and 6-15cm in length,creeping
and profusely branched.3 types of branching is present :-
long shoots,intermediate shoots and short shoots.
 Young rhizome are dichotomously branched.
 Leaves are present on short and thick
branches,tripinnately compound and having length 2-12
feet.
 Roots are adventitious and endogeneous in origin.

INTERNAL STRUCTURE
 Rhizome shows different steles at different stages of life
i.e.,protostelic(6-8mm),siphonostelic(5-6 week
old),solenostelic(2.5-3 months old),dictyostele(1.5-2mm and
start branching) and medullary stage .Other structures are
similar to Dryopteris .
 Root is diarch.
 Pinnule structure is similar to bifacial leaf -2 epidermis
,stomata on lower side ,mesophyll cells(palisade and spongy
paranchyma and contain abundant chloroplast),vascular bundle
is collateral or concentric surrounded by endodermis.
 Petiole consist of outer epidermis ,scelerenchymatous
hypodermis and paranchymatous ground tissue.Vascular bundle
is horse shoe shaped.

Reproducion and development
 Vegetative reproduction is takes place due to broken
branches it give plant a gregarious habit .
 No sporophyll present only segments of lamina or pinnules
bear sporangia,coenosorus wedge shaped initial give rise
to receptacle which bear sporangia.
 Spores are tetrahedral and lack perispore.
 Further development of sporangium and gametophyte is
almost similar to Dryopteris .

LIFE CYCLE

CYATHEA
DIVISION-FILICOPHYTA
CLASS-
LEPTOSPORANGIOPSIDA
ORDER-FILICALES
FAMILY-CYATHEACEAE
GENUS- CYATHEA

OCCURRENCE AND USES
 Family cyatheaceae include 5 genera i.e.,
Cyathea,Alsophila,Hemetelia,Lophosoria and Metaxya .
 Cyathea occur mostly in tropical rain forests and in India
it is found in eastern Himalayas.
 Wood of this plant is extremely tough and durable
,therefore it is used in picket fences .
 From pulpy apical part of caudex starch is obtained.
 Ornamental .

EXTERNAL STRUCTURE
 Sporophytic plant body is divided into root, stem and
leaves.
 Stem is short , stumpy ,dichotomously branched , thick,
covered with hairs and also covered with adventitious
roots in some species.
 Leaves are large upto 4m in height and repeatedly pinnate
but also rarely simple.Young leavea are circinnately
coiled.
 Roots are adventitious sometimes also present on trunk.

INTERNAL STRUCTURE
o Mature stem is polycyclic dictyostelic and leaf gaps
,meristele,accessory vascular strand in pith (medullary
bundles),narrow cortex and accessory cortical strand but
absent in C.medullaris .
o Stelar ontogeny is present in same stem at different
nodes:- at base it is protostelic, at 8th node solenostelic
only one leaf trace and they divide and finally form
dictyostele.
o Root and leaves structure are similar to other.

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
 Vegetative through fragmentation.
 Sexual through antheridium and archegonium.
 Receptacle is globose or elongated and is sufficiently raised
and conta
 in indusium which is cup-like structure. It bears sporangia.
 Spore on germination form prothallus which further give rise
to antheridia and archegonia which on fertilization
(spermatozoid and egg) and germination give rise to
sporophytic plant.
 Parthenogenesis also occur.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM
 TEXTBOOK OF PTERIDIOPHYTE 2nd edition by P.C.VASHSHTA
 TEXTBOOK OF BOTANY by SINGH,PANDEY AND JAIN

Germination of fern

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