A fern is a member of a group of vascular plants that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except the lycopods, and differ from mosses and other bryophytes 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.
Ophioglossum vulgatum, commonly known as adder's-tongue, southern adders-tongue or adders-tongue fern, is a species of fern in the family Ophioglossaceae.
Blitum bonus-henricus, also called Good-King-Henry, poor-man's asparagus, perennial goosefoot, Lincolnshire spinach, Markery, English mercury, or mercury goosefoot, is a species of goosefoot which is native to much of central and southern Europe.
Asplenium nidus is an epiphytic species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae, native to tropical southeastern Asia, eastern Australia, Hawaii, Polynesia, Christmas Island, India, and eastern Africa. It is known by the common names bird's-nest fern or simply nest fern.
Species Plantarum is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial names and was the starting point for the naming of plants.
Acanthus mollis, commonly known as bear's breeches, sea dock, bear's foot plant, sea holly, gator plant or oyster plant, is a species of plant in the family Acanthaceae and is native to the Mediterranean region. It is a leafy, clump-forming perennial herb, with a rosette of relatively large, lobed or toothed leaves, and purplish and white flowers on an erect spike.
Rhodiola is a genus of perennial plants in the family Crassulaceae that resemble Sedum and other members of the family. Like sedums, Rhodiola species are often called stonecrops. Some authors merge Rhodiola into Sedum.
Fritillaria camschatcensis is a species of flowering plant native to northeastern Asia and northwestern North America, including northern Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, northern Japan, and the Russian Far East. It has many common names, including Kamchatka fritillary and Kamchatka lily.
Olax is a plant genus in the family Olacaceae. The name derives from the Latin, olax (malodorous), and refers to the unpleasant scent of some of the Olax species. Olax is an Old World genus represented by several climbers, some species have leaves and fruits smelling of garlic such as Olax subscorpioidea and Olax gambecola, seeds of the latter are used as condiments in parts of West Africa. In India Olax nana is well known as one of the first species to emerge after forest fires, the shoots growing directly from buried roots.
Asplenium rhizophyllum, the (American) walking fern, is a frequently-occurring fern native to North America. It is a close relative of Asplenium ruprechtii which is found in East Asia and also goes by the common name of "walking fern".
Asplenium ceterach is a fern species commonly known as rustyback.
Asplenium trichomanes, the maidenhair spleenwort, is a small fern in the spleenwort genus Asplenium. It is a widespread and common species, occurring almost worldwide in a variety of rocky habitats. It is a variable fern with several subspecies.
Adiantum pedatum, the northern maidenhair fern or five-fingered fern, is a species of fern in the family Pteridaceae, native to moist forests in eastern North America. Like other ferns in the genus, the name maidenhair refers to the slender, shining black stipes.
Cheiroglossa palmata, synonyms Ophioderma palmatum and Ophioglossum palmatum, variously known as hand fern, dwarf staghorn, or hand tongue, is an epiphytic or terrestrial fern. As an epiphyte it grows in old leaf bases of the cabbage palmetto.
Asplenium ruta-muraria is a species of fern commonly known as wall-rue. It is a very small epipetric species, growing exclusively on limestone and other calcareous rocks. Its fronds are bluish-green and are heavily sub-divided, becoming up to 12 cm in length.
Ophioderma pendulum is sometimes known as the old-world adder's-tongue. In Malaysia, it is known as daun rambu. It is a fern in the family Ophioglossaceae, and is the type species of the genus Ophioderma. It is most noteworthy for the length of its pendant fronds, up to 14 ft 9 in in length and three inches (8 cm) wide produced at intervals along a tree-clinging rhizome.
Zephyranthes atamasca, commonly known as the atamasco-lily or more generally a rain-lily, is native to the southeastern United States. It grows in swampy forests and coastal prairies, preferring acid boggy soils rich with leaf mold. Following the appearance of broad, grassy leaves in early winter, it blooms in March or April. It has several narrow, linear basal leaves about 0.5 in (13 mm) wide and 10–15 in (25–38 cm) long. Its native range extends from Florida north to Maryland and west to Mississippi. The species is also naturalized in Bermuda and in the Mariana Islands. Both its leaves and bulbs are poisonous.
Plumbago zeylanica, commonly known as Ceylon leadwort, doctorbush or wild leadwort, is a species of plumbago with a pantropical distribution. Carl Linnaeus described the paleotropical P. zeylanica and Neotropical P. scandens as separate species, but they are currently considered synonymous.
Hymenophyllum tunbrigense, the Tunbridge filmy fern or Tunbridge filmy-fern, is a small, fragile perennial leptosporangiate fern which forms large dense colonies of overlapping leaves from creeping rhizomes. The common name derives from the leaves which are very thin, only a single cell thick, and translucent, giving the appearance of a wet film. The evergreen fronds are bipinnatifid, deeply and irregularly dissected, about 3 to 6 cm long, 2 cm across with dark winged stipes. In contrast to the similar H. wilsonii the fronds are more divided, flattened, appressed to the substrate and tend to have a bluish tint.
Scaevola plumieri is a species of plant in the family Goodeniaceae which grows on coastal dunes in the tropics and subtropics.
