Seedless nonflowering plants of the class Filicinae. They reproduce by spores that appear as dots on the underside of feathery fronds. In earlier classifications the Pteridophyta included the club mosses, horsetails, ferns, and various fossil groups. In more recent classifications, pteridophytes and spermatophytes (seed-bearing plants) are classified in the Subkingdom TRACHEOPHYTA (also known as Tracheophyta).
    

concept

A fern frond, leaves and grasses framing a rectangular space. Nature print.

Tree-ferns in an Australian forest with two hunters in the distance. Engraving by E. Brandard, c. 1873, after N. Chevalier.

Various leaf forms, leaf venation, bud arrangements and woody stems. Watercolour by I. Sawkins.

A fern, a moss, a fungus and an alga: all with anatomical details. Coloured etching by J. Pass, c. 1799.

Our native ferns, or, A history of the British species and their varieties / by E.J. Lowe.

The structure & development of the mosses & ferns (Archegoniatae) / by Douglas Houghton Campbell.

Les fougères : choix des espèces les plus remarquables pour la décoration des serres, parcs, jardins et salons, précédé de leur histoire botanique & horticole / par Aug. Rivière, É. André, E. Roze ; ... publié sous la direction de J. Rothschild.

Select ferns and lycopods: British and exotic / [Benjamin Samuel Williams].

A summary of the new ferns which have been discovered or described since 1874 / by J.G. Baker.

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The structure & development of the mosses & ferns (Archegoniatae) / by Douglas Houghton Campbell.

Les fougères : choix des espèces les plus remarquables pour la décoration des serres, parcs, jardins et salons, précédé de leur histoire botanique & horticole / par Aug. Rivière, É. André, E. Roze ; ... publié sous la direction de J. Rothschild.

Tree-ferns in an Australian forest with two hunters in the distance. Engraving by E. Brandard, c. 1873, after N. Chevalier.

Select ferns and lycopods: British and exotic / [Benjamin Samuel Williams].

A summary of the new ferns which have been discovered or described since 1874 / by J.G. Baker.