Note to players: Common or scientific name acceptable. These plants are classified by a system named for Ren-Chang Ching. An aquatic genus of these plants that is used as a biofertilizer for rice for its ability to fix nitrogen is named Azolla. The gametophyte stage of these plants is a heart-shaped structure called the prothallus. These plants undergo circinate vernation, in which their crozier-shaped (*) fiddleheads expand. These plants evolved to grow in low-light conditions during their namesake “great radiation” in the late Cretaceous period. This group of plants includes the Marattiales and the Equisetales, which are called horsetails. These plants display brown dots called sori (“sore-ee”) on their undersides. For 10 points, name these seedless vascular plants that reproduce by releasing spores from their fronds. ■END■
ANSWER: ferns [or Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta or Pteridopsida or Pteridophyta or Monilophyta]
<KP, Biology>
= Average correct buzz position