| Noun | 1. | Pteridophyta - containing all the vascular plants that do not bear seeds: ferns, horsetails, club mosses, and whisk ferns; in some classifications considered a subdivision of Tracheophyta division - (botany) taxonomic unit of plants corresponding to a phylum kingdom Plantae, plant kingdom, Plantae - (botany) the taxonomic kingdom comprising all living or extinct plants genus Pecopteris - genus of Carboniferous fossil ferns nonflowering plant, pteridophyte - plants having vascular tissue and reproducing by spores fern family - families of ferns and fern allies fern genus - genera of ferns and fern allies class Psilopsida, class Psilotatae, Psilopsida, Psilotatae - whisk ferns; comprising the family Psilotaceae or Psilotatae: vascular plants with no roots, partial if any leaf differentiation, and rudimentary spore sacs order Psilophytales, Psilophytales - Paleozoic simple dichotomously branched plants of Europe and eastern Canada including the oldest known vascular land plants class Lycopodiate, class Lycopsida, Lycopodiate, Lycopsida - club mosses and related forms: includes Lycopodiales; Isoetales; Selaginellales; and extinct Lepidodendrales; sometimes considered a subdivision of Tracheophyta |