Pteridaceae -- the maidenhair family (40/1000; cosmopolitan)
Plants homosporous
Habit herbs with creeping, pubescent and/or scaly rhizomes, sometimes erect
Leaves simple or 1-6 times compound arranged alternately; monomorphic or dimorphic
Vernation circinate
Sporangia leptosporangia (very small stalked sporangia with annuli) organized into sori along veins, often near leaf margins, or scattered on underside of leaf blade (abaxially)
Indusia absent, or when present, a false indusium formed by the recurved pinnule margin
Spores uniform in size, small; globose to globose-tetrahedral or trigonal
Gametophytes bisexual, aboveground, thin, green, photosynthetic