Chemicals are everywhere in the bodies of living organisms and their external environments. While most chemicals are valuable or benign, some are toxic, including those used for defense (such as the mucus that protects clownfish from an anemone’s stinging tentacles). Even naturally-occurring chemicals, such as arsenic, must be managed to reduce their impact. Some living systems have strategies to break down harmful chemicals, alter them into less toxic forms, physically prevent chemicals from harming sensitive tissues, and more. For example, some herbivorous mammals can digest toxic compounds in plants because they have a particular enzyme that helps them process poisonous plant compounds.
Class Polypodiopsida (“many footed appearance”): Ferns, horsetails, whisk ferns
Ferns are a class of plants that reproduce without flowers or seeds, but by spores. With over 10,500 known species, ferns are the second most abundant group of vascular plants after angiosperms (flowering plants). Though they can be found in a variety of habitats, ferns prefer moist, humid environments. Ferns first evolved in the Carboniferous Period about 360 million years ago. Today, ferns are grown for food, medicine, ornamental landscaping, and hold importance in culture and folklore. Several species can also remove pollutants from the atmosphere.
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