• For grades 7 - 12 and college-level biology
  
  
• Simple and rapid set up by teacher or students
  
  
• Explore a broad spectrum of biological principles
  
  
• Introduces simple, failproof axenic culture techniques
  
  
• Adaptable - from teacher demonstrations to student initiated learning
  
  
• Rapid gametophyte development from spores over a 14 day period
  
  
• Watch the release of swimming sperm and their attraction to eggs under a stereomicroscope.
  
  
• Visualize fertilization and early embryo development, all in a single petri dish
  
  
• Two distinct sexual types - hermaphrodites and males
  
  
• Simple genetics with striking visible mutant phenotypes - e.g., polka dot
  
  
• Spore to spore life cycle in as little as 90 days. Sporophytes are long-lived , highly fertile, have a sturdy upright growth habit and produce spores with no after-ripening requirement

The C-Fern Manual and C-Fern Educational Investigations have been developed jointly by Drs. Leslie G. Hickok and Thomas R. Warne (The University of Tennessee) with support from the National Science Foundation - Division of Undergraduate Education. The C-Fern is a specially derived strain of an unusual fern, Ceratopteris, with novel features that make it ideal for classroom use.