The ferns are a group of vascular plants 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.
A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent stems, lianas or runners. The word vine can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.
A frond is a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group. Other botanists allow the term frond to also apply to the large leaves of cycads, as well as palms (Arecaceae) and various other flowering plants, such as mimosa or sumac. "Frond" is commonly used to identify a large, compound leaf, but if the term is used botanically to refer to the leaves of ferns and algae it may be applied to smaller and undivided leaves.
Lygodium is a genus of about 40 species of ferns, native to tropical regions across the world, with a few temperate species in eastern Asia and eastern North America. It is the sole genus in the family Lygodiaceae in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016. Alternatively, the genus may be placed as the only genus in the subfamily Lygodioideae of a more broadly defined family Schizaeaceae, the family placement used in Plants of the World Online as of November 2019.
Onoclea sensibilis, the sensitive fern, also known as the bead fern, is a coarse-textured, medium to large-sized deciduous perennial fern. The name comes from its sensitivity to frost, the fronds dying quickly when first touched by it. It is sometimes treated as the only species in Onoclea, but some authors do not consider the genus monotypic.
Onoclea is a genus of plants in the family Onocleaceae, native to moist habitats in eastern Asia and eastern North America. They are deciduous ferns with sterile fronds arising from creeping rhizomes in spring, dying down at first frost. Fertile fronds appear in late summer. Depending on the authority, the genus contains one to five species.
Adiantum aleuticum, the western maidenhair fern or Aleutian maidenhair, is a species of deciduous fern in the genus Adiantum.
Osmundastrum is genus of leptosporangiate ferns in the family Osmundaceae with one living species, Osmundastrum cinnamomeum, the cinnamon fern. It is native to the Americas and eastern Asia, growing in swamps, bogs and moist woodlands.
Osmunda japonica, also called Asian royal fern or fiddlehead, is a fern in the genus Osmunda native to east Asia, including Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, and the far east of Russia on the island of Sakhalin. It is called gobi in Korean, zenmai in Japanese, and zǐqí or juécài in Chinese.
Ceratopteris thalictroides is a fern species belonging to the genus Ceratopteris, one of only two genera of the subfamily Parkerioideae of the family Pteridaceae.
Ligustrum japonicum, known as wax-leaf privet or Japanese privet is a species of Ligustrum (privet) native to central and southern Japan and Korea. It is widely cultivated in other regions, and is naturalized in California and in the southeastern United States from Texas to Virginia.
Lygodium microphyllum is a climbing fern originating in tropical Africa, Southeast Asia, Melanesia and Australia. It is an invasive weed in Florida where it invades open forest and wetland areas. The type specimen was collected in the vicinity of Nabúa, on the island of Luzon in the Philippines by Luis Née.
Dryopteris goldieana, commonly called Goldie's wood fern, or giant wood fern is a fern native to the eastern United States and adjacent areas of Canada, from New Brunswick to Ontario and Georgia. It is the largest native North American species of Dryopteris and along with ostrich fern it is one of the largest ferns in eastern North America. Specimens are known with fronds six feet tall. D. goldieana hybridizes with many other species of Dryopteris and the hybrids tend to be larger than the pure species. It was named by William Hooker in honor of its discoverer, John Goldie. The epithet was originally published as goldiana, but this is regarded as a misspelling to be corrected.
Aspidotis densa is a species of fern in the Cheilanthoid subfamily, known by the common name Indian's dream or Serpentine fern or dense lace fern. It is native to the west coast of North America from British Columbia to California and east to the Rocky Mountains in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming; there is a disjunct population on serpentine soils in Quebec.
Amauropelta noveboracensis, the New York fern, is a perennial species of fern found throughout the eastern United States and Canada, from Louisiana to Newfoundland, but most concentrated within Appalachia and the Atlantic Northeast. New York ferns often forms spreading colonies within the forests they inhabit.
Helminthostachys zeylanica is a terrestrial, herbaceous fern of southeastern Asia and Australia, commonly known as kamraj and tunjuk-langit. The species is like the other members of its family, it has clusters of sporangia on stems of fertile, spike-like fronds.
Deparia acrostichoides, commonly called silvery glade fern or silvery spleenwort, is a perennial species of fern. Its range includes much of the eastern United States and Canada, from Ontario to Nova Scotia and Georgia to Louisiana, as well as eastern Asia in China, Russia, Japan and Korea. The name silvery comes from the fact that the indusia on the underside of the leaf have a silver color when the sori are close to ripening.
Actinostachys pennula, the ray spiked fern or tropical curly-grass, is a fern native mainly to Southern Florida and is an endangered plant species.
Coryphopteris simulata, synonym Thelypteris simulata, is a species of fern native to the Northeastern United States. It is known by two common names: bog-fern and Massachusetts fern. It is often confused with the silvery spleenwort, New York fern, and the marsh fern due to similarities in shape and size.
Lygodium articulatum, commonly referred to as mangemange or Bushman's mattress, is a fern endemic to the North Island forests of New Zealand. Mangemange is an endemic species and is unique compared to other ferns in the area due to the vine–like curtain it creates in the canopy. Although the majority of the plant is found in the canopy of the surrounding forest, the roots and stem of mangemange form on the ground, meaning it cannot be classified as an epiphyte.
