Sori

As has been my habit for most of the time the pandemic has been running I wandered round the garden with my camera.  While I was in "the woodland garden" I noticed the sun shining through the leaves of the Hart's-Tongue Fern  (Asplenium scolopendrium) showing up the bar like Sori.  I took a shot.

Then out of interest I turned over the fronds of a few of the other ferns.  This one stood out, not only were the sori standing out nicely but they had started to shed spores as well.  Fern reproduction is very different from most plants being in some ways more like animals.

These spores grow into a tiny plant known as a gametocyte.  This produces Antheridium (the male with sperm) and the Archegonium (with the egg).  When it is wet the sperm swim to the Archegonium where fertilization takes place.  Then a mature Sporophyte can grow.   We call this as the Fern.