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 of Kansas, and was laid low in ten rounds." Showing there was some flex among boxing reporters as to when Ferns first took the title, the "Milwaukee-Journal" recognized that Ferns first took the title in his defeat of Mysterious Smith, passing the title to Ferns in the process as early as January 1900, but Fern's assumption of the title is also widely recognized with his October 16, 1900 defeat of Matty Matthews. Ferns had two more important defenses of the Welterweight title, first on September 23, 1901 against the lightweight champion Frank Erne in front of an enthusiastic crowd of