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 Ferns first took the welterweight title may be in minor dispute, as many sources recognize Fern's claim to the title as early as his defeat of Mysterious Billy Smith on January 15, 1900, though Smith did not as he claimed he was winning the fight before his disqualification, and the claim had some validity. Ferns defeat of Matty Matthew's on August 30, 1900 is probably the welterweight title bout that gained the widest publicity of the title passing, though Ferns won title bouts earlier in the year. Fern's loss of the title on December 18, 1901 to Joe Walcott was