Thelypteridaceae

The maiden fern family in Belgium:
Ferns belong to a group of primitive plants which appeared on Earth even before the dinosaurs. They made the change from water to land plants. Ferns are spore producing plants without the colour and splendour we know from flowering plants, still beloved both in gardens as indoors. In nature, they mostly prefer moist, relatively shady places. In this project, we shall address the maiden fern family, Thelypteridaceae. These ferns occur mostly in the tropical regions of Earth, only a handful of species prosper in temperate areas. In Belgium, only three species are indigenous; one of those – the marsh fern (Thelypteris palustris) – occurs in marshes and swamps, for which reason the family is referred to as “swamp ferns” in other languages such as Dutch and German.

The Belgian Herbarium:
Meise Botanic Garden holds the largest herbarium collection of Belgian plant specimens. Each of these herbarium specimens has a label with valuable information such as the plant’s identification, and when, where, and who collected the plant. These specimens can be used in many domains of research, such as conservation, evolution, ecology and systematics. These data help us to better understand the plants of Belgium, their history and that of people who collected them. There are about 200,000 specimens in the Belgian Herbarium of the Meise Botanic Garden and we want to document them all! These data will then be made available online at www.botanicalcollections.be.

Keywords (Latin):
Belgium, Thelypteridaceae, Filices, Hortus Botanicus Meise, Botanica.