it’s complicated
there’s a tendency to think of ancient things as simpler than contemporary things. but then you read about how ferns reproduce. they’ve been around for 360 million years, so they know a little something about survival. but then why do they reproduce via spores that don’t actually grow into full adult ferns, but only grow into an intermediate kind of plant called a gamephyte, that needs to be further fertilized before it grows into a mature plant? well, it’s complicated. meanwhile, let’s keep more species around rather than fewer, shall we? just in case something over a quarter of a billion years old might have something to teach our infant species someday?

spring ferns