Fern plants. Like all other vascular plants, the diploid sporophyte is the dominant phase or generation in the life cycle. The gametophytes of ferns, however, are very different from those of seed plants. They are free-living and resemble liverworts, whereas those of seed plants develop within the spore wall and are dependent on the parent sporophyte for their nutrition. A fern gametophyte typically consists of: Ferns first appear in the fossil record in the early Carboniferous period. By the Triassic, the first evidence of ferns related to several modern families appeared. The great fern radiation occurred in the late Cretaceous, when
Rube Ferns record. One reporter described Ferns as "one of the queerest and most eccentric practitioners in a profession that has attracted many freaks. He was reared on a Pennsylvania farm and always dressed like a stage farmer in go-to-meeting clothes...Ferns was tall and angular and did not look like a fighter. According to BoxRec, Ferns began his career by 1896 with six straight knockouts of boxers Jack Dougherty, Tom Mackey, Harry Pigeon, Cass Whitman, Ed Doyle, and Fred Ross. Half of these fights were known to have been in the Kansas area. In 1897, Ferns fought in some larger cities and