Think of ferns, and what do you envision? If you're like most transplants to the Southwest, or even a native to our arid lands, probably a vision of cool, moist forests and meadows comes to mind. Perhaps the high country of the Sacramento, White, or Mogollon mountains, with spruce-fir forests, gurgling streams, and open places of grass sprinkled with blooming flowers. If so, you sadly underestimate the very old and diverse group of plants known to the biologist as the Pterophyta.
Next time you're wandering around in any of the low desert ranges
of the Chihuahuan Desert, seek out sheltered places: cliff bases, overhanging ledges,
north-facing niches. Anywhere that a little protection from the elements and perhaps
where a smidgen of extra moisture might collect is fair game for our desert ferns. If
you do your searching in the dry season, you might be forgiven for thinking your find
has given up the ghost, but never fear; once the rains begin, these survivors from the
days of old will be right in there—still surviving!
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.