In the Panamanian rainforest, scientists found the first known plant species to transform decaying tissue into a new source of nutrients. By Douglas Main In the rainforests of western Panama, the ...

Plant biologists report that a species of tree fern found only in Panama reanimates its own dead leaf fronds, converting them into root structures that feed the mother plant. The fern, Cyathea ...

Probably the first pioneer plants to arrive in Hawaii were mosses and ferns. Ferns have been around for over 360 million years. Giant tree fern forests were common for millions of years but they gave ...

Land plants evolved 470 million years ago from algae and have since reshaped our world. Throughout their evolution, ferns have undergone a series of changes that have helped them survive on land. For ...

Land plants evolved 470 million years ago from algae and have since reshaped our world. Throughout their evolution, ferns have undergone a series of changes that have helped them survive on land. For ...

If you want to get a sense of what life was like during the Carboniferous period some 300 million years ago, visit the Kona Cloud Forest above Kailua. The area abounds with ferns that once were ...

Ferns are weird. They're green and leafy like other forest plants, but they reproduce more like mushrooms do—by releasing clouds of spores. Many species don't require a partner for fertilization, ...

With massive fronds creating a luxuriously green canopy in the understory of Australian forests, tree ferns are a familiar sight on many long drives or bushwalks. But how much do you really know about ...

For the first time, researchers have characterized the genome arrangement of tree ferns, which sheds new insight into how ferns evolved. Land plants evolved 470 million years ago from algae and have ...

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign plant biology professor James Dalling and his colleagues discovered that some tree ferns recycle their dead fronds into roots. The researchers call these ...