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 decision losing the title though suffering from open sores. Ferns re-took the title on May 24, 1901 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in a tenth-round knockout which may have been a close bout prior to the final blow. The "Bridgeport Herald" wrote "that in the tenth round Ferns landed a stomach blow, followed by a punch to the head that knocked out Matthews. The "Pittsburgh Press" further authenticated the passing of the title from Matty Matthews to Ferns, when it wrote of the May 24, 1901 bout, "Matty Matthews, the New Yorker, who held the title stacked up against Rube Ferns,