fern

The creature lifts its head, nearly dainty in scale, and contentedly gnaws a mouthful of ferns.

Recently, we met at the Radical Hood Library, where ferns hang from the ceiling and posters on the wall celebrate Black love.

The two creeks flow through rocky canyons shaded by pines and Douglas firs, where ferns grow along the banks.

“If it’s not the biggest, it’s jolly well close to it,” Leitch said of the fork fern’s genome.

A fern from a Pacific island carries 50 times as much DNA as humans do.