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
Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin on 12 July 1835. Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin The Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin was the Ordinary of Church of Ireland diocese of Ferns and Leighlin in the Province of Dublin. The diocese comprised all of counties Wexford and Carlow and part of counties Wicklow and Laois in Republic of Ireland. The Episcopal see was a union of the bishoprics of Ferns and Leighlin which were united in 1597. Over two hundred and thirty-eight years, there were twenty-nine bishops of the united diocese. Under the Church Temporalities (Ireland) Act 1833, Ferns and Leighlin were combined