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Ferns are a group of about 20,000 species of plants. About 10,000 are living: they are in the division Pteridophyta.

Unlike bryophytes, ferns have xylem and phloem, which makes them vascular plants. Unlike seed plants like angiosperms (flowering plants) or gymnosperms, ferns do not have seeds. Instead, they reproduce by spores.

Most ferns belong to the Class Leptosporangiata (or Pteridopsida). This includes most of those you see in gardens and woods. The horsetails belong to another class, the Equisetopsida, which was extremely important in the Carboniferous period. Only one genus survives. The other classes of fern are also quite small today.