This article is about a group of plants. For other uses, see Fern (disambiguation) and Ferns (disambiguation).
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Class of vascular plants
Ferns
Temporal range: Middle Devonian[1]—Present
PreꞒ
Ꞓ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Psilotales
Equisetales
Marattiales
Osmundales
Hymenophyllales
Gleicheniales
Cyatheales
Polypodiales
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
Clade:
Tracheophytes
Division:
Polypodiophyta
Class:
Polypodiopsida Cronquist, Takht. & W.Zimm.
Subclasses[2]
†Stauropterididae
†Zygopterididae
Equisetidae
Marattiidae
Ophioglossidae
Polypodiidae
Synonyms
Filicatae Kubitski 1990
Filices
Filicophyta Endlicher 1836
Monilophyta Cantino & Donoghue 2007
Pteridopsida Ritgen 1828
The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissues that conduct water and nutrients and in having life cycles in which the branched sporophyte is the dominant phase.
Ferns have complex leaves called megaphylls, that are more complex than the microphylls of clubmosses. Most ferns are leptosporangiate ferns. They produce coiled fiddleheads that uncoil and expand into fronds. The group includes about 10,560 known extant species. Ferns are defined here in the broad sense, being all of the Polypodiopsida, comprising both the leptosporangiate (Polypodiidae) and eusporangiate ferns, the latter group including horsetails, whisk ferns, marattioid ferns, and ophioglossoid ferns.
Ferns first appear in the fossil record about 360 million years ago in the late Devonian period, but Polypodiales, the group that makes up 80% of living fern diversity, did not appear and diversify until the Cretaceous, contemporaneous with the rise of flowering plants that came to dominate the world's flora.
Ferns are not of major economic importance, but some are used for food, medicine, as biofertilizer, as ornamental plants, and for remediating contaminated soil. They have been the subject of research for their ability to remove some chemical pollutants from the atmosphere. Some fern species, such as bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) and water fern (Azolla filiculoides), are significant weeds worldwide. Some fern genera, such as Azolla, can fix nitrogen and make a significant input to the nitrogen nutrition of rice paddies. They also play certain roles in folklore.
(Polypodiidae) and eusporangiate ferns, the latter group including horsetails, whisk ferns, marattioid ferns, and ophioglossoid ferns. Ferns first appear in the fossil...
Fern Marie Brady (born 26 May 1986) is a Scottish comedian, podcaster and writer. She achieved fame as a stand-up comedian at competitions such as the...
Fern (also Stichting Fern) is a Dutch foundation created in 1995. It is an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) set up to keep track of the...
Cody Fern (born 6 July 1988) is an Australian actor and director. Following his feature debut in The Tribes of Palos Verdes (2017), he portrayed murder...
tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are...
The fern test is a medical laboratory test used in obstetrics and gynecology. The name refers to the detection of a characteristic "fern like" pattern...
Fern Sutherland is a New Zealand actress, best known for her roles as Dawn in The Almighty Johnsons, and Detective Sims in The Brokenwood Mysteries. Starting...
Fern Britton (born 17 July 1957) is an English television presenter and author. She co-presented Breakfast Time in the 1980s and hosted the cookery game...
Fern allies are a diverse group of seedless vascular plants that are not true ferns. Like ferns, a fern ally disperses by shedding spores to initiate...
The Barnsley fern is a fractal named after the British mathematician Michael Barnsley who first described it in his book Fractals Everywhere. He made it...
Fern Riddell (/fɜːrn rɪˈdɛl/ FURN ri-DEL) (born 22 January 1986) is a British historian who specialises in gender, sex, suffrage and Victorian culture...
The fern flower is a magic flower in Baltic mythology (Lithuanian: paparčio žiedas, Latvian: papardes zieds), in Estonian mythology (Estonian: sõnajalaõis)...
Fiddleheads or fiddlehead greens are the furled fronds from a fledgling fern, harvested for use as a vegetable. Left on the plant, each fiddlehead would...
Fern Isabel Coppedge (July 28, 1883 – April 21, 1951) was an American impressionist painter. Born in the small town of Cerro Gordo near Decatur, Illinois...
the silver fern or silver tree-fern, or as ponga /ˈpɒŋə/ or punga /ˈpʌŋə/ (from Māori kaponga or ponga), is a species of medium-sized tree fern, endemic...
leptosporangiate ferns, formerly Leptosporangiatae, are one of four subclasses of ferns, the largest of these being the largest group of living ferns, including...
called monarch fern, musk fern, maile-scented fern, breadfruit fern, or wart fern is a species of fern within the family Polypodiaceae. This fern grows in the...
Azolla (mosquito fern, duckweed fern, fairy moss, water fern) is a genus of seven species of aquatic ferns in the family Salviniaceae. They are extremely...
Fern bar is an American slang term for an upscale or preppy (or yuppie) bar or tavern catering to singles, usually decorated with ferns or other greenery...
Look up walking fern in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Walking fern may refer to two species of fern in the genus Asplenium, which are occasionally placed...
Where the Red Fern Grows is a 1961 children's novel by Wilson Rawls about a boy who buys and trains two Redbone Coonhounds for hunting. It's a work of...
Pteridomania or fern fever was a Victorian craze for ferns. Decorative arts of the period presented the fern motif in pottery, glass, metal, textiles,...
fern, tuber ladder fern, erect sword fern, narrow sword fern and ladder fern, and herringbone fern. It is similar to the related fern Nephrolepis exaltata...
Asparagus fern is a common name given to several plants in the genus Asparagus. It may refer to: Asparagus aethiopicus Asparagus densiflorus Asparagus...
Asparagus setaceus, commonly known as common asparagus fern, asparagus grass, lace fern, climbing asparagus, or ferny asparagus, is a climbing plant in...
The Fern Journal was a quarterly scientific journal specializing in pteridology. Willard N. Clute was the editor-in-chief of The Fern Bulletin throughout...
Sword fern is a common name for several ferns and may refer to: Nephrolepis, a tropical genus of ferns, especially: Nephrolepis exaltata, commonly cultivated...
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