Ferns & Other Lower Vascular Plants
Lower vascular plant, any of the spore-bearing vascular plants, including the ferns, club mosses, spike mosses, quillworts, horsetails, and whisk ferns. Once considered of the same evolutionary line, these plants were formerly placed in the single group Pteridophyta and were known as the ferns and...
Ferns & Other Lower Vascular Plants Encyclopedia Articles
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club moss
Club moss, (family Lycopodiaceae), any of some 400 species of seedless vascular plants constituting the only family of the lycophyte order Lycopodiales. The taxonomy of the family has been contentious,...
fern
Fern, (class Polypodiopsida), class of nonflowering, herbaceous vascular plants that possess true roots, stems, and complex leaves and that reproduce by spores. The number of known extant fern species...
bracken
Bracken, (Pteridium aquilinum), widely distributed fern (family Dennstaedtiaceae), found throughout the world in temperate and tropical regions. The fronds are used as thatching for houses and as fodder...
tree fern
Tree fern, any of a group of relatively primitive ferns in the order Cyatheales, most of them characterized by ascending trunklike stems and an arborescent (treelike) habit. Tree ferns are conspicuous...
lady fern
Lady fern, (Athyrium filix-femina), a large, feathery fern (family Athyriaceae) widely cultivated for ornamentation. Lady ferns occur in moist semi-shaded areas in the temperate zones of the world. There...
lower vascular plant
Lower vascular plant, any of the spore-bearing vascular plants, including the ferns, club mosses, spike mosses, quillworts, horsetails, and whisk ferns. Once considered of the same evolutionary line, these...