Pteridaceae is a large family of
ferns in the order
Polypodiales. Members of the family have creeping or erect
rhizomes and are mostly terrestrial or
epipetric (growing on rock). The
leaves are almost always compound and have linear
sori that are typically on the margins of the
leaves and lack a true
indusium, typically being protected by a false indusium formed from the reflexed margin of the leaf. The family includes four groups of genera that are sometimes recognized as separate families: the adiantoid, cheilanthoid, pteroid, and hemionitidoid ferns. Relationships among these groups remain unclear, and although some recent genetic analyses of the Pteridales suggest that neither the family Pteridaceae nor the major groups within it are all
monophyletic, as yet these analyses are insufficiently comprehensive and robust to provide good support for a revision of the order at the family level.