Pteridaceae (ter-id-AY-see-ee)
Iconic Features
- Stems generally dark and wiry
- Fronds almost always compound
- Sori typically hidden under frond margin
Description (Jepson)
- Polypodiopsida (ferns)
- A group of early vascular plants that produce spores (no flowers or seeds)
- Perennial ferns from creeping or erect rhizomes (horizontal underground stems)
- Fronds almost always compound (divided into leaflets)
- 1-6 levels of division (pinnation)
- Stems generally dark and wiry
- Sori (sacs containing reproductive cells/spores) typically hidden in the curled-under margins of leaflets, sometimes along veins; no indusia (a membrane covering sori until mature)
Notes
- Approximately 500 species worldwide
- Includes maiden-hair, brake, and lace ferns
- Scientific name from the included genus Pteris, from the Greek for “fern”
- Common name from the Scandinavian for “bracken,” a coarse fern
- Represented by 3 species at Edgewood
Specific References
American Fern Society. About Ferns.
U.S. Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture. What Are Ferns?.
