What is Fern?
{{Taxobox | name = Pteridophyta | fossil_range = <small>Mid [[Devonian]] <ref>Stein W.E. ''et al 2007. ''Giant cladoxylopsid trees resolve the enigma of the Earth's earliest forest stumps at Gilboa. ''Nature'' '''446''', 904-907. [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7138/abs/nature05705.html]</ref> – Recent</small> | image = Polystichum_setiferum0.jpg | image_width = 240px | image_caption = ''Polystichum setiferum'' showing unrolling young frond | regnum = [[Plant]]ae | divisio = '''Pteridophyta''' | subdivision_ranks = Classes | subdivision = [[Psilotopsida]]<br> [[Equisetopsida]]<br> [[Marattiopsida]]<br> '''Pteridopsida''' (or Polypodiopsida, or Filicopsida) }} '''Fern'''s are a group of about 20,000 [[species]] of [[plant]]s. About 10,000 are living: they are in the [[Division (botany)|division]] '''Pteridophyta'''.<ref>Also known as ''Filicophyta''</ref> Unlike [[bryophyte]]s, ferns have [[xylem]] and [[phloem]], which makes them [[vascular plant]]s. Unlike [[seed plants]] like [[angiosperms]] (flowering plants) or [[gymnosperms]], ferns do not have [[seed]]s. Instead, they reproduce by releasing their [[spore]]s into the environment where the germinate into a [[Prothallus]]. Most ferns belong to the [[Class (biology)|Class]] Leptosporangiata (or Pteridopsida). This includes most of those you see in gardens and woods. The [[horsetail]]s belong to another class, the Equisetopsida, which was extremely important in the [[Carboniferous]] period.<ref>Taylor, Thomas N. & Edith L. Taylor. 1993. ''The biology and evolution of fossil plants. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. pp. 303–305. {{ISBN|0-13-651589-4}}.</ref> Only one [[genus]] survives. The other classes of fern are also quite small today. Ferns do not have waxes or special cells on their surface that keep water from [[evaporate|evaporating]]. This means that they best live in a place where there is a lot of [[fog]] or has a lot of [[rainfall]] and is in a [[shade]] that protects them from direct [[sunlight]]. Most do have [[root]]s, [[Plant