With several thousand living species, ferns are the second most diverse vascular plants around today, after angiosperms. Ferns are also abundant and well-known in the fossil record. This episode, Aly joins us to explore the dizzying variety of ferns and their ferny-friends, past and present.In the news: When the Earth Was Green, weird wasps, and ancient claws. And also dire wolves.Time markers: Intro & Announcements: News: Main discussion, Part 1: Main discussion, Part 2: Patron question: Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcastWhen the Earth Was Green: https://bookshop.org/p/books/when-the-earth-was-green-plants-animals-and-evolution-s-greatest-romance-riley-black/21356911    https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781250354211-when-the-earth-was-green Find Riley at @restingdinoface.bsky.social And http://rileyblack.net/Support links: Assigned Media: https://www.assignedmedia.org/Got a topic you want to hear about? Submit your episode request here: https://commondescentpodcast.com/request-a-topic/Lots more ways to connect with us: https://linktr.ee/common_descentThe Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.orgMusical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0