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 ...

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 ...

Hawaiian gardens have long been famous for their vast array of orchids. We commonly see epiphytic types growing on hapu’u, tree branches and even rocky, soilless areas. In the last decade, other ...

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 ...

To get by in the waterlogged, low-nutrient soil of the Quebrada Chorro forest in western Panama, a species of tree fern repurposes its dead fronds, turning them into roots. The discovery “was ...

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, ...

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 ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- As flowering plants like giant trees quickly rose to dominate plant communities during the Cretaceous period, the ferns that had preceded them hardly saw it as a disappointment. In ...

Gregory Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...