Weekly Photo Challenge: Admiration

Last Updated on September 29, 2023

My first fern

A significant portion of my sophomore year was spent learning about the plant life cycle. In particular, we studied the incredible cycle that is the Alternation of Generations. Where multicellular plants and their gametes cycle between a haploid “n” state and a diploid “2n” state. This fluctuation between haploid and diploid stages often occurs in plants and is called the alternation of generations.

Alternation of Generations

Throughout the entire course, the textbook always referred to drawings of ferns. I stared at the pictures in confusion wondering if I had ever seen a plant that looked anything like a fern. I could not recall. In fact, the fern was consistently used as an example since supposedly, they are super common and everyone (except me?) knows what a fern is.

Finally, 20 years later, I have recognized my first fern in real life. Wow, writing this post made me realize how much I miss biology.

(Weekly Photo Challenge: Admiration)

2 Comments

  1. Maybe they just aren’t as prominent where you live. Here in Texas they are basically hanging on everyone’s porch because they are super easy to take care of.
    I’ve always liked them because they remind me of a book I read when I was younger “Where the Red Fern Grows”. Which is a heartbreaking book about a boy in the Ozark mountains of Oklahoma and his two dogs.

    1. Haha I think they’re pretty common here too. I’m apparently just oblivious to certain things. And no way!!!! Where the Red Fern Grows is one of my favorite books! It’s listed as one on my blog!

      Again, I feel silly for even saying this but… I didn’t even notice the “fern” overlap between the book title and this. Never made the connection until now. For what it’s worth, a fern (now that I know what they look like) is not AT ALL what I imagined in my head when I read that novel.

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