History and Habitat

• Ferns are among the oldest types of plants.fossile image by danimages from Fotolia.com
  
  The earliest plants lived in the sea, but they evolved to adapt to land habitats, which required a vascular system to transport moisture from roots through stems and leaves. Dr. Paul F. Ciesielski, of the University of Florida, explains that seedless vascular plants had developed by about 420 million years ago. They "dominated the landscape for the next 175 million years," according to the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Illinois. Ferns and their relatives usually live in warm, moist climates which mimic the prehistoric climate into which they evolved.
  
  

Ecological Importance

• By studying horsetails and other seedless vascular plants, scientists learn more about how life evolved.horse-tail image by Vasiliy Koval from Fotolia.com
  
  Seedless vascular plants are important to scientists, who see them as an important link in the evolutionary development of life on earth; they are the connection between the biodiversity of our own world and the earlier epochs, when life originated in the seas. By studying these descendants of the first land plants, botanists and paleontologists can learn more about how organisms adapted to the changing planet.
  
  

Ecological Significance

• Ferns are an important part of forest ecosystems.fern in the forest image by ana malin from Fotolia.com
  
  Seedless vascular plants are an essential part of their ecosystems, providing cover and food for a variety of organisms, depending on the specific habitat. Along with non-vascular mosses, vascular plants thrive in places that are too shady or moist for most flowering plants, such as dense forest understory. They may take on more direct ecological importance. The American Horticultural Society reports that one species--eden fern--is believed to remove arsenic from the soil.
  
  

Horticultural Significance

• Staghorn ferns are valued as houseplants for their unusual shapes.large staghorns 2 image by mdb from Fotolia.com
  
  The most popular human use for seedless vascular plants is horticultural. True ferns have long been a favorite landscape plant, being one of the relatively few plants adapted to shade gardening. This shade tolerance also makes them an ideal house plant. Horsetails, although considered weeds in some parts of the country, are sold for use in water gardens. The showy foliage and unique shapes of these plant classes make them useful in floral arrangements, as well, even those varieties--such as club mosses--whose names may be unfamiliar to consumers.
  
  

Other Uses

• Young fiddleheads are considered a spring delicacy.spring in the forest (fern) image by Vasiliy Koval from Fotolia.com
  
  Indigenous people have long used seedless vascular plants for tools and food. Early North Americans, for instance, used the horsetails for cleaning, because of the rough silica at their tips; this use gave rise to their other nickname, scouring rushes. The most common ongoing use for these plants, however, is as food. Although relatively unknown in drier regions of the country, the northern and mid-Atlantic forests are home to a popular delicacy prized by chefs and foodies alike: fiddleheads. Gourmands harvest these young, curly fern sprouts from spring forests for sauteing and pickling.