What are economic importance of Pteridophytes?
Pteridophytes commonly known as Vascular Cryptogams, are the seedless vascular plants that evolved after bryophytes. Besides being a lower plant, pteridophytes are economically very important. Dry fronds of many ferns are used as a cattle feed.
How are Pteridophytes useful to mankind?
In general, ferns are of minor economic importance to humans. However, ferns are popular horticultural plants and many species are grown in ornamental gardens or indoors. Herbalists have advocated some fern species for treatment of ulcers, rheumatism, intestinal infections, and various other ailments.
What is the economic importance of the ferns?
Ferns are not of major economic importance, but some are used for food, medicine, as biofertilizer, as ornamental plants and for remediating contaminated soil. They have been the subject of research for their ability to remove some chemical pollutants from the atmosphere.
How do ferns help the environment?
Their fossils have gone on to make important fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. Ferns can also uptake heavy metals from the soil and aid in healing contaminated environments. Ferns have many uses today that people don’t really think about as well. Some animals use ferns as a source of food.
What animals live in Ferns?
From a wildlife point of view, ferns can give structure that provides foraging space and shelter for ground-feeding birds, while other critters, for example frogs and turtles, like to hide in them. Ferns are generally resistant to browsing by rabbits.
What wild animals eat ferns?
There are numerous animal species that eat ferns. In the wild, this includes deer, rabbits, small rodents and insects such as crickets, beetles,…
Are ferns harmful?
Ferns are among the popular home plants due to their tropical-looking fronds. For families with children and pet owners, the cultivation of the plant requires caution. Ferns release spores that cause poisoning through oral ingestion. They only reproduce through the spores, which also contain toxins.