Multiple choice

Which of the following ferns is a living fossil?

  1. Leptosporangiate ferns

  2. Equisetum

  3. Whisk fern

  4. Ophioglossoid fern

  5. Christensenia aesculifolia
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Equisetum  is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds. It is a "living fossil" as it is the only living genus of the entire class Equisetopsida, which for over one hundred million years was much more diverse and dominated the understory of late Paleozoic forests.

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