Any of a group of some twenty thousand species of vascular plants classified in the division Pteridophyta that lack seeds and reproduce by shedding spores to initiate an alternation of generations.

A female given name. / A topographic surname.

Covered in ferns.

plural of fern

A characteristic fern-like pattern on a slide viewed under low power on a microscope, used as a sign when testing for ovulation or the presence of amniotic fluid.

plural of Fern

Either of two species of fern in the genus Asplenium (Asplenium rhizophyllum or Asplenium sibiricum) that produce new plantlets from the tips of their leaves.

Maidenhair (Adiantum spp.).

Any of many tropical ferns that have tall trunks topped with fronds, of the orders Cyatheales, Marattiales, and Osmundales, especially families Cyatheaceae, Dicksoniaceae, and Metaxyaceae in Cyatheales.

The leaf of a fern; used attributively in various terms (see Derived terms below).