Under the lens, the arrangement of the sporangia appears different in every fern species. In Cibotium taiwanense, each sorus is covered by an indusium (protective covering) made up of two flaps of tissue in the shape of a cockle shell, which splits slightly open to release the spores; the false staghorn fern (Dicranopteris linearis), produces single bead-like sporangia arranged in their sori in a plum-flower pattern.
鏡頭下，每一種蕨類孢子囊組合方式特異，蚌殼蕨科的金狗毛蕨，孢子囊群由兩片蚌殼狀的孢膜包圍，開裂時就像一個微微張開的蚌殼；裡白科的芒萁，一個個珠玉般的小孢子囊，組合成梅花拼盤般的孢子囊群。