: a class of Pteropsida comprising plants (as the typical ferns) that produce no seeds and have large often complex leaves, sperms which must be transported by water, and well-developed alternation of generation usually with independent gametophytes and sporophytes which often differ radically in size and form and including the orders Marattiales, Ophioglossales, and Filicales with living representatives and the extinct order Coenopteridales compare angiospermae , gymnospermae
2
in some classifications: a class or other group coextensive with Filicales
filicinean
¦filə¦sinēən
adjective
Word History
Etymology
New Latin, from Filic-, Filix + -ineae
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