Question

Fern Plant is a
a. Haploid sporophyte
b. Haploid gametophyte
c. Diploid sporophyte
d. None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Fern is a member of a group of vascular plants which have neither seeds nor flowers and which reproduce by spores (xylem and phloem plants). They differ among mosses by being vascular means having specialized tissues that conduct water and nutrients, and possessing life cycles in which the sporophyte is the dominant phase. Ferns have complex leaves known as megaphylls, which are more complex than clubmoss microphylls.

Complete answer:
Fern is a member of the Pteridophytes. Ferns, like the sporophytes of seed plants, are composed of branches, leaves and roots. In reproducing spores, ferns differ from seed plants and from bryophytes in that, like seed plants, they are Polysporangiophytes, branching their sporophytes and developing several sporangia. Fern sporophytes are free-living and only briefly reliant upon the maternal gametophyte, unlike bryophytes.

Fern stems are sometimes pointed to as rhizomes, even though some of the species only grow underground. Epiphytic species and many of the terrestrial ones have creeping stolons over ground and many groups have semi-woody trunks above ground.

In pteridophytes, the plant body is diploid and develops spores that lead to the gametophyte.

Hence, the correct answer is option (C).

Note: Ferns are not of significant economic significance, but some are used as fruit, medicine, bio-fertilizer, ornamental plants and polluted soil remediation. They have been the subject of studies for their ability to extract from the environment such chemical contaminants. Some fern species are important weeds worldwide, such as bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) and water fern (Azolla filiculoides). Some fern genera, such as Azolla, are capable of fixing nitrogen and making a major contribution to rice paddies' nitrogen nutrition. In folklore, they also play such positions.