Athyriaceae is a family of terrestrial fern

Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...

s, with a cosmopolitan distribution

Cosmopolitan distribution

In biogeography, a taxon is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if its range extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. For instance, the killer whale has a cosmopolitan distribution, extending over most of the world's oceans. Other examples include humans, the lichen...

. It has, in the past, included Cystopteris

Cystopteris

Cystopteris is a genus of ferns. These are known generally as bladderferns or fragile ferns. They are found in temperate areas worldwide. This is a very diverse genus and within a species individuals can look quite different, especially in harsh environments where they experience stress and remain...

and Gymnocarpium

Gymnocarpium

Gymnocarpium is a small genus of ferns once placed with various other groups, including the dryopteroid ferns and the athyrioid ferns. Cladistic analysis has demonstrated that Gymnocarpium and Cystopteris form a natural but relatively primitive clade that is basal to the asplenoid, thelypterioid,...

, but those two genera are now recognized as representing a two-member clade that is a basal offshoot of the clade that includes this family, plus Woodsia

Woodsia

Woodsia is a genus of ferns in the family Woodsiaceae. It includes the following species :*Woodsia alpina S. F. Gray*Woodsia appalachiana T. M. C. Taylor*Woodsia cochisensis Windham...

, the Onocleaceae

Onocleaceae

Onocleaceae is a small family of terrestrial ferns. There are four genera of onocleoids: Matteuccia, Onoclea, Onocleopsis, and Pentarhizidium, consisting of five species largely in north temperate climes....

, Blechnaceae

Blechnaceae

Blechnaceae is a family of nine genera and between 240-260 species of ferns, with a cosmopolitan distribution.Most are ground dwelling, some are climbers, such as Stenochlaena. A characteristic feature of many species is that the young opening fronds are usually tinged with red.Genera*Blechnum L....

, Aspleniaceae

Aspleniaceae

The Aspleniaceae is a family of ferns, included in the order Polypodiales or in some classifications as the only family in the order Aspleniales....

, and Thelypteridaceae

Thelypteridaceae

Thelypteridaceae is a family of about 900 species of ferns.The ferns are terrestrial, with the exception of a few which are lithophytes . The bulk of the species are tropical, although there are a number of temperate species....

. Inversely, this family has by some been subsumed in the family Woodsiaceae

Woodsiaceae

Woodsiaceae or Cliff Fern is a family of fern within the Aspleniales order....

, but a Woodsiaceae defined in this way may be paraphyletic if it omits the Onocleaceae and Blechnaceae (as of 2006, the evidence was not clear).

Selected genera:

• Anisocampium
• Athyrium
  Athyrium
  Athyrium is a genus of about 180 species of terrestrial ferns, with a cosmopolitan distribution.Athyrium species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Small Angle Shades and Sthenopis auratus.-Species:There are about 180, including:-References:***...
  
  
• Cornopteris
• Deparia
  Deparia
  Deparia is a genus of athyrioid ferns.-Species:*Deparia acrostichoides M.Kato - silvery glade fern *Deparia biserialis M.Kato*Deparia confluens M.Kato...
  
  
• Diplaziopsis
• Diplazium
  Diplazium
  Diplazium is a genus of the cliff fern family that specifically includes the approximately 400 known species of twinsorus ferns. The Greek root is diplazein meaning double: the indusia in this genus lie on both sides of the vein...
  
  
• Hypodematium
  Hypodematium
  -Species:*Hypodematium crenatum Kuhn*Hypodematium daochengense K. H. Shing*Hypodematium fordii Ching*Hypodematium glabrius Holtt.*Hypodematium glabrum Ching ex Shing*Hypodematium glandulosum Ching ex Shing...
  
  
• Pentarhizidium
  Pentarhizidium
  Pentarhizidium is a genus of two Asian fern species. These species have formerly been included in Matteuccia or Onoclea. Recent genetic analysis has determined that these two species form a discrete clade that is basal to the rest of this fern group, and so have been located in their own genus. P...
  
  
• Rhachidosorus