the forking fern family, containing 6 genera and about 125 species, in the division Pteridophyta (the lower vascular plants (plant)). This relatively primitive family has a long fossil history dating back to the Jurassic Period (about 200 to 150 million years ago). The extant genera are Gleichenella (1 species), Strematopteris (1 species), Dicranopteris (12 species), Diplopterigyium (25 species), Gleichenia (10 species), and Sticherus (about 80 species). The group is most diverse in the Paleotropics but is also well represented in warmer regions of the New World. Many of the species are colonizers of open or disturbed areas and are commonly seen along road banks in the tropics.

The leaves of most Gleicheniaceae are atypical for ferns in that they have a peculiar pattern of development. The rachis (main axis) of the lamina forks at all or most nodes, with a “dormant bud” between the branches that appears as a short fiddlehead. This indeterminate pattern of leaf growth and branching results in extremely long leaves that creep and climb over the ground and other vegetation, forming large masses of overlapping leaves. The sporangia (fern) are clustered into small round naked sori (fern) along the secondary veins. Both bean-shaped (bilateral) and globose (terahedral) spores occur in the family.