326 articles
Fern sporophyte
The fern sporophyte is the diploid, spore-bearing generation of the fern life cycle: the rooted, photosynthetic plant that grows from the fertilized egg on the gametophyte.
Fernery
Fernery: a garden, building, or glass container for growing ferns, also called a filicetum. Flourished under Victorian pteridomania (Kingsley, 1855); notable survivors include Morris Arboretum's 1899 fernery and Sydney's 1993 fernery.
Ferns and fern allies of Great Britain and Ireland
The ferns and fern allies of Great Britain and Ireland are the islands' spore-bearing vascular plants, about 72 to over 100 species including horsetails and lycophytes.
Ferns and lycophytes of the United States
The ferns and lycophytes of the United States are the country's spore-bearing vascular plants: about 513 species in 407 ferns and 106 lycophytes, richest in warm, wet regions like Texas.
Ferns in disturbance and succession
Ferns in disturbance and succession are fern species that colonize recently opened ground such as landslides, burns, and abandoned fields, dominating for years before woody plants take over.
Ferns of Brazil
Ferns of Brazil are among the world's richest fern floras, with 1,412 species by 2023, roughly a third endemic, and the Atlantic Forest the richest biome.
Ferns of California
Ferns of California is the set of ferns, horsetail allies, quillworts, and spike-mosses native to the state, tracked at 66 taxa across 12 families and 27 genera.
Ferns of Canada
Ferns of Canada covers the country's ferns and lycophytes, 114 species in 31 genera and 13 families, richest in British Columbia and thinnest in the Arctic.
Ferns of China
The ferns of China make up probably the world's richest national fern flora: over 2,100 species in 177 genera, about 39% found nowhere else, richest in Yunnan.
Ferns of Eastern and Southeastern Europe
The ferns of Eastern and Southeastern Europe cover Poland, the Carpathians, the Balkans, Romania, Ukraine, and European Russia, with national counts of 74 taxa in Russia and 66 in Poland.
Ferns of Georgia (U.S. state)
Ferns of Georgia describes the state's more than 100 fern and fern-ally species across three regions, including rare granite-outcrop spleenworts, the endemic quillwort Isoetes tegetiformans, and invasive climbing ferns.
Ferns of Hawaii
The ferns of Hawaii are the roughly 180 native fern and lycophyte taxa of the Hawaiian Islands, about 77% endemic and increasingly threatened by feral animals and invasive plants.
Ferns of Indochina
The ferns of Indochina are the ferns and lycophytes native to mainland Southeast Asia, covering Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, with Vietnam best surveyed at 1,132 species.
Ferns of Korea
The ferns of Korea are the native ferns, fern allies, and lycophytes of the Korean peninsula, with 333 fern taxa and 31 lycophytes recorded in the 2025 national checklist.
Ferns of Malesia
Ferns of Malesia describes the ferns and lycophytes of Malesia, a floristic region spanning Malaysia to Papua New Guinea with about 4,500 Southeast Asian pteridophyte species, including tree ferns and epiphytes.
Ferns of Melanesia
The ferns of Melanesia span New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia, with New Guinea a tree fern hotspot holding 120 species, over two thirds endemic.
Ferns of Mexico
The ferns of Mexico, together with lycophytes, number 1,014 to 1,057 species, among the richest floras in the Americas, concentrated in humid Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Veracruz.
Ferns of Mexico and Central America
Ferns of Mexico and Central America is the rich regional fern flora spanning Mexico to Panama, holding about 1,039 species in Mexico and 1,358 in Central America.
Ferns of New Zealand
The ferns of New Zealand are a flora of about 272 fern and lycophyte species, 92 of them endemic, led by the filmy fern family Hymenophyllaceae.
Ferns of Northern Europe and the Baltic
Ferns of Northern Europe and the Baltic covers the region's roughly 70 fern and lycophyte species across Scandinavia, Finland, and Iceland, their habitats, and conservation.
Ferns of Polynesia and Micronesia
The ferns of Polynesia and Micronesia are the fern and lycophyte floras of scattered tropical Pacific islands, built almost entirely by long-distance spore dispersal from distant continents.
Ferns of Taiwan
Ferns of Taiwan (臺灣蕨類): the island's pteridophyte flora of 824 taxa per the 2019 TPG checklist, one of the world's five richest insular fern floras, East Asiatic in affinity, with 43% in the warm-temperate zone.
Ferns of the Caribbean islands
The ferns of the Caribbean islands are the spore-bearing vascular plants of the Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, Bahamas, and Trinidad, with high endemism and specialized tree ferns.
Ferns of the Indian subcontinent
The ferns of the Indian subcontinent are the roughly 1,000–1,300 fern species native to India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan, concentrated in the Eastern Himalaya and Western Ghats.
Ferns of the Mediterranean, Iberia and Macaronesia
The ferns of the Mediterranean, Iberia and Macaronesia form the fern flora of southern Europe and its Atlantic islands, with 128 Iberian taxa and Macaronesian laurel-forest endemics like Davallia canariensis.
Ferns of the northern Andes and northern South America
The ferns of the northern Andes and northern South America span Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, and the Guianas, with Colombia alone holding 1,633 fern and lycophyte species.
Ferns of the Southern Cone
The Ferns of the Southern Cone is the pteridophyte flora of countries like Argentina and Chile. It covers roughly 890 species, with 172 of them endemic.
Ferns of Western and Central Europe
The ferns of Western and Central Europe, spanning France to Austria, hold about 194 native fern and lycophyte species, richest in mountain regions like the Alps.
Fertilization in ferns
Fertilization in ferns is the fusion of a free-swimming, multi-flagellate spermatozoid with an egg inside an archegonium on the gametophyte, requiring a film of external water.
Fiddlehead
Fiddlehead, or crozier, the coiled young fern frond formed by circinate vernation; also the edible spring shoot of the ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), which must be boiled 15 minutes or steamed 10-12 minutes before eating.