Dryopteridoideae

The Dryopteridaceae are a family of leptosporangiate ferns in the order Polypodiales. They are known colloquially as the wood ferns. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), the family is placed in the suborder Polypodiineae. Alternatively, it may be treated as the subfamily Dryopteridoideae of a very broadly defined family Polypodiaceae sensu lato.

The family contains about 1700 species and has a cosmopolitan distribution. Species may be terrestrial, epipetric, hemiepiphytic, or epiphytic. Many are cultivated as ornamental plants. The largest genera are Elaphoglossum (600+), Polystichum (260), Dryopteris (225), and Ctenitis (150). These four genera contain about 70% of the species. Dryopteridaceae diverged from the other families in eupolypods I about 100 million years ago.

The fossil record appears to show the earliest members of the group emerging some 99 MYA during the Mid Cretaceous.