The next one is Lycopodium, or Ground Pine. There should be a specimen of this in the large terrarium; notice the rhizome...almost all the plant is a long, horizontal stem. There are roots coming off this stem, which you can pull partially out of the soil to show the students. There are preserved specimens--several, in fact--of lycopodium. One is a box with the lycopodium in foam, others are in jars. Just look thru the lab AND in the storeroom on the first floor.

There are two live samples of selaginella, maybe more. One is in a large pot; if it recovers, it should say selaginella on the outside, but is commonly known as some sort of fern. There is a small plastic dish with a lid and a white tab in it saying selaginella, and a very healthy selaginella by the maidenhair fern in the large terrarium. You can show students how the leaves are flattened, with one visible vein in the middle; it has a "jointed' or 'scaled' appearance very similar to that of the red algae Corallina (the white specimen in the small jar). If the plant is big and healthy enough, maybe pick off a bit to pass about. I offer bonus points to my students if they go to a greenhouse, target, a nursery (I got mine at Lowe's) and bring in a sample of selaginella, groundpine, fern, etc. They need to be able to RECOGNIZE it as what it is scientifically, even if the common name is misleading.

Quillwort is preserved in jars (2 of them). Most students won't touch it because it looks brown and disgusting...but just point out that it's a plant with a bit of mud suspended in the alcohol. I grab forceps and pull one out, showing the roots and extremely long microphylls with the tiny, short stem. If you bring in an onion/scallion (small base, long green hollow leaves) you can show them something similar. Once you have it out of the jar, the students generally have no trouble holding the Quillwort, and seeing the short stem.

Slides of the sporophylls/corms/strobili of all these specimens are available. Point out the ligule, but tell them that on these primitive plants, its purpose is unknown but that in higher plants, such as grasses, it is an important part of the organism. Make sure to point out where heterospory evolved....later on, having a sporophyll dedicated to the production of males and one dedicated to the production of females results in flower parts with pollen!

One of the fun ones to show is Scouring Rushes. There are a LOT in the terrarium--you can SEE the underground stems (rhizomes). If you go to the interesection of GeorgeBush and Wellborn, in the shopping center with Rothers Bookstore, you can find a patch of Scouring Rushes (some with secondary stems). I usually pick a few, and let the students have fun popping them apart! They can see how even though these are 'true' leaves, they don't necessarily LOOK like leaves...instead, they are fused and form a ring to support the 'joint.' This is also a good demonstration of nodes and internodes. Some of the scouring rushes invariably have secondary stems sprouting from the nodes. There is an EXCELLENT preserved specimen of the "horsetail" type on a sheet of herbarium paper. We also have a jar of the dried heads of scouring rushes, students can take them and see how crunchy and rough they feel because of the silica deposits. There are PLENTY of preserved horsetails, if I can't find live ones for some reason, I let the students pop apart those.

It is important that, in this lab, students get to see the evolution of stems (psilophyta), roots (lycopodia), and leaves (horsetails). If you understand leaf gaps, it's a good idea to explain it. I'll try and include a picture demonstrating a leaf gap in a link.

I usually go ahead and teach the fern lab along with the fern allies (they're both short labs) and then spend the next week clarifying steles, rhizoids, rhizomes, once/twice/thrice compound, etc. with the students. For the ferns, there are some herbarium sheets, and some live specimens. Point out the maidenhair fern, which looks NOTHING like a fern...except for the sori. Use the flip chart to show the fern life cycle, then use the preserved specimen box to show it to them visually. This is a box that has a preserved frond with a bit of rhizome, the spores, a fern gametophyte, etc., in foam with a clear top to observe. The box looks almost identical to the one with the lycopodia. Also, use the slides to show a false and a true indusium.

The preserved fern herbarium sheets should have multiple types of compound leaves, and have the students look at the dates on which they were collected. One is well over a century old! This tends to encourage interest if it's starting to flag. Show circinate vernation on the flip chart, and I usually mention how they're called 'fiddleheads' and are very soft and tasty. Then I show them a slide of a fern gametophyte (it's hard to find one with a clear heart shape, and usually you can see the rhizoids, but not clear venters/archegonia or spermatia). Grab a few different slides with various stages of growth of the fern sporophyte. If you get the chance, drop by Albertson's or a florist's, and see if you can find a fern leaf with sori....a florist might just give you one. Students can scrape the indusia off with fingerails or razorblades, and see the sporangia underneath. There are tree ferns on the huge tree in front of the building between Butler and BSBW (analytical sciences building). They're easy to spot, especially if it's been a wet week. If the students need a break in the lab and a chance to move about, I'd recommend taking them to see the tree ferns. There's also a chunk of bark with tree ferns in the window. Keep soaking it for a week, and they'll uncurl and become very thick, leathery fronds (some are also in the terrarium). On the herbarium samples, point out how some are eusporangiate (they have portions or even entire fronds dedicated solely to spore production, not photosynthesis). This 'division of labor' between leaves which are photosynthetic and leaves that are reproductive is a highly evolved trait. The 'leptosporangiate' ferns have the sori. I use 'leper' as a mnemonic device....lepers have 'spots' on their bodies, and a leptosporangiate fern has the sori spots. One of the herbarium specimens has an EXCELLENT false indusium clearly visible as a raised brown line along the edge of the fern frond. This is a great lab for a lot of hands-on stuff for the students!

There IS a Resurrection Fern, but the darn thing is almost dead...it's been 'revived' a few too many times. I've got it planted in a small herbarium in hopes that it'll grow and recover some, then it can be placed back in the bag. Just mist it with water and let it uncurl and turn green over the course of a half hour.