Gleicheniales is an order of ferns in the subclass Polypodiidae. The Gleicheniales have records potentially as early as the Carboniferous, but the oldest unambiguous records date to the Permian.
Gleicheniales
The ferns are a group of vascular plants that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissues that conduct water and nutrients and in having life cycles in which the branched sporophyte is the dominant phase.
Image: Psilotum
Image: Equisetopsida
Image: Flickr brewbooks Angiopteris evecta Mule's foot fern (1)
Image: WP2 Hymenophyllum Exkursion nach Berdorf (Luxemburgexkursion) 011