As the dominant phase in the life cycle of ferns and other pteridophytes, the sporophyte – the leafy fern plant with its characteristic foliage and growth habit – has received and continues to receive much attention in morphological, phylogenetic and evolutionary considerations, as well as in books and monographs. As a departure from this trend, the present book attempts to focus on the other phase of the fern life cycle – the unobtrusive gametophyte. Although slow to begin with, there has been a growing realization of the potentialities of the fern gametophyte for experimental studies, providing impetus for significant new interdisciplinary research on its growth, differentiation and sexuality. Since no unified summary of these investigations comprising the entire gametophytic phase exists, it is the purpose of this book to present a brief, but comprehensive account of the developmental biology of fern gametophytes. This work is also an inevitable outcome of my own interest in the study of gametophytes for nearly a quarter of a century.

The overall philosophy of the book has been to present the story of the gametophyte in a familiar developmental sequence beginning with the single-celled progenitor, going to the multicellular state and ending with the initiation of the sporophytic phase. The content of each chapter is focused around the physiological, cytological and biochemical background of the topic under discussion.