臺北自來水園區環境教育中心

蕨類的幼葉大都呈現卷曲狀，這也是辨認蕨類植物最簡易的方法。蕨類是一群具有維管束的孢子植物，不開花、沒有果實和種子，而且一般也沒有明顯的樹幹（莖），所以整個植株最顯著的部分就是葉子。與其他的植物相比，蕨類的葉子通常比較大，這是為了要在森林中主流植物的陰影下，捕捉到較多陽光之故。成熟的葉子背面可見孢子囊群，孢子是蕨類主要的繁殖及傳播工具，與高等植物的種子極為不同，它只有一個細胞大小，肉眼無法看見，通常孢子囊群位於蕨類成熟葉子的葉背，也是一項辨別蕨類的重要依據。
The spires of the fern, mostly curly, provide the simplest means of identification. Ferns are cryptogams, bearing bundles within. They do not blossom, bearing neither fruit nor seeds. Since they don't have distinct stalks, leaves become their most obvious feature. Their leaves are normally bigger than with other plants, enabling them to capture more sunlight even if growing under the shadow of "mainstream" plants in the forest. Sporangium clusters can be seen on the back of a mature fern leaf. The spores, a fern's major productive and spreading tools, are distinctively different from the seeds of advanced vegetation; i.e., a spore is as big as a single cell, which is invisible to the naked eye. The sporangium clusters on the back of mature fern leaves are hence another distinctive feature used for fern identification.