Royal fern, Flowering fern

This species reproduces vegetatively by the rhizome, which produces creeping stems spreading out in different directions. The fronds appear only at the end of the stems and eventually form a ring, known as a 'fairy ring'. It also reproduces sexually by spores, in which case it takes 7 weeks for the prothallus to form and another 17 weeks for the young frond to appear. A large percentage of prothalli do not produce fronds, however, because of crosses that lead to the appearance of recessive genes that cause the plant to die.