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.

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.

Covered in ferns.

plural of Fern

Any of various simple vascular plants, of the family Psilotaceae, that have leafless dichotomous stems and produce spores.

plural of whisk fern

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.