Bioimages home
Back to general photography standards

Proposed photographic standards: Ferns and fern allies

For background and rationale, see Baskauf, S.J. and B.K. Kirchoff (2008) Digital plant images as specimens: toward standards for photographing living plants.  Vulpina 7:16-30.

A. Whole plant

1. entire plant, vegetative
In cases where the spore-bearing structures are on the lower surface of the leaf, it may be unnecessary to differentiate between this category and the next.

2. entire plant showing reproductive structures
It may be beneficial to take a more distant image showing the plant in its habitat in order to provide a sense of scale and to facilitate rapid visual recognition.

B. Leaf (frond)

1. upper surface of entire frond
The apex should be up (not followed for Lycopodium digitatum).

2. lower surface of entire frond
These images do not follow this standard as they do not show the entire lower surface.

3. margin of upper surface of frond (if entire), or pinna (if compound) with lower surface of another frond/pinna visible behind upper surface Note: most of these images do not follow this standard in that they do not have the lower surface of another frond/pinna visible behind.

4. stem/base of frond
Include an image of the supporting structures of the fronds or sporangia.

D. Sporangia

1. spore-bearing structure
If the sporangia are located on a specialized structure, include a close-up image of that structure.   If the sporangia are located on the frond, include a close-up image of the lower frond surface showing their arrangement.

E. Gametophyte

1. microscopic view of gametophyte

Except as noted, images (c) Steven J. Baskauf - click on link for info on individual images.