SANTA CRUZ >> Beneath California’s iconic towering redwoods, ferns carpet the forest floor. The Western sword fern is the most common plant in the coastal redwood forest, and it’s showing signs of ...

The native ferns that form a lush green understory in coastal redwood forests are well adapted to dry summers and periodic droughts, but California's current prolonged drought has taken a toll on them ...

Dieback of ferns due to the drought can be seen in some areas of the campus redwood forest. (Photo by T. Stephens) A close-up of a western swordfern frond shows damage caused by thrips. (Photo ...

Researchers have described seven new fern species from the rainforests of tropical America. Many of the species were uncovered as the by-product of ecological research: the species diversity in ...

I suppose to most, ferns are just those plants that brush up against your calves while walking or hiking. They tickle and often make tick-weary hikers nervous wherever they lean into the trail. Emily ...

PUTNAM COUNTY, Ind. — A rare plant has been discovered in west central Indiana. The weft fern, a state-endangered species that grows on rocks, caves and sheltered crevices, was found during a plant ...

More than 250 million years ago, long before the rise of dinosaurs and seed plants, ferns dominated the landscape. The nonflowering ferns (including the related horsetails and club mosses) grew to the ...

Nature did for me what yoga, psychedelics and therapy couldn’t. Young tree fern fiddleheads beginning to unfurl in the cloud forest of Santa Cruz Tepetotutla in Mexico.Credit...Daniel Borris for The ...

Each spring for the past three years, I’ve embarked on a fern hunting expedition on Oregon’s public lands. Armed with a shovel and sometimes a permit, the trips have taken me into random corners of ...