Smith et al. (2006) A classification for extant fern families
Plants terrestrial or epipetric ferns. Rhizomes long to short, creeping, ascending, suberect, or erect, usually bearing scales, less often hairs; blades homomorphic, hemimorphic. or dimorphic in a few genera, usually pinnate , sometimes pedate or decompound, or simple; veins free and forking or variously anastomosing and forming a reticulate pattern without included veinlets; sori marginal or intramarginal, lacking a true indusium, often protected by the the reflexed blade margein, or sporangia along the veins; sporangia each with a vertical, interrupted annulus, receptacles not or only obscurely raised; spores globose or tetrahedral, trilet, variously ornamented.
The family Pteridaceae is almost cosmopolitan in its distribution but best represented in tropical and arid regions. It includes about 50 genera and 950 species. It now includes what were once several smaller families.
