Fern sports are plants that show marked change from the normal type or parent stock as a result of mutation. The term Morphotype is also used for any of a group of different types of individuals of the same species in a population. Fern frond

Frond

The term frond refers to a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group...

s in sports are typically altered in several ways, such as the frond apex divided and pinna

Pinna

In animal anatomy, the pinna is the visible part of the ear that resides outside of the head ....

e similarly duplicated.

Occurrence

Soft Shield Fern Polystichum setiferum

Polystichum setiferum

Polystichum setiferum is an evergreen or semi-evergreen fern native to southern and western Europe.-Distribution:...

, Lady Fern Athyrium filix-femina

Athyrium filix-femina

Athyrium filix-femina is a large, feathery species of fern native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere, where it is often abundant in damp, shady woodland environments and is often grown for decoration.The plant is caespitose Athyrium filix-femina (Lady Fern or Common Lady-fern)...

and Hart's Tongue Fern Asplenium scolopendrium are known to have around three hundred varieties or sports. Scaly Male Fern Dryopteris affinis

Dryopteris affinis

Dryopteris affinis is fern native to western and southern Europe and southwestern Asia....

 and Male Fern Dryopteris filix-mas

Dryopteris filix-mas

Dryopteris filix-mas is one of the most common ferns of the temperate Northern Hemisphere, occurring throughout much of Europe, Asia, and North America. It favours damp shaded areas and is common in the understory of woodlands, but is also found in shady places on hedge-banks, rocks, and screes...

 have a number of commercially available and naturally occurring sports or subspecies. Examples are D. affinis polydactyla Dadds, A. filix-femina plumosum, A. filix-femina corymbiferum, and D. filix-mas Barnesii

Lady Fern (Athyrium filix-femina)

Characteristics

The frond of a sport may be branched at the tip and at the tips of the pinna, the colour may vary, and variegation may occur; fronds generally remain bilaterally symmetrical. Ferns sports remain normal in certain respects, such as viability with sori

Sorus

A sorus is a cluster of sporangia .In fungi and lichens, the sorus is surrounded by an external layer. In some red algae it may take the form of a depression into the thallus....

 and indusia appearing normal. The frond stipe may be a different colour.

Hart's Tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium)
Misidentification

Galls on ferns and other physical damage to fern fronds can be mistaken as sports, however this is usually asymmetric, ferns generally being bilaterally symmetrical. In Athyrium and Dryopteris species white maggots of Chirosia betuleti create mop-head galls on fern frond tips that look somewhat like fern sports, however this is physical damage and not a growth form.

Rarity

Ferns sports particularly suffered during the Victorian-era

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 Pteridomania

Pteridomania

Pteridomania or Fern-Fever was a craze for ferns. Victorian decorative arts presented the fern motif in pottery, glass, metal, textiles, wood, printed paper, and sculpture, with ferns "appearing on everything from christening presents to gravestones and memorials."-Description:Pteridomania, meaning...

 ('Fern-Fever') craze

Social mania

Social manias are mass movements which periodically sweep through society, sometimes on a world-wide basis. They are characterized by an outpouring of enthusiasm, mass involvement and millennialist goals. Social manias are contagious social epidemics, and as such they should be differentiated from...

, when over collecting of fern species included over collecting unusual fern varieties.

External links

• http://mygarden.uphero.com/ferns05.htm Ferns sports