Fern fern ("Onoclea sensibilis"). Giant water fern ("Salvinia molesta") is one of the world's worst aquatic weeds. The important fossil fuel coal consists of the remains of primitive plants, including ferns. Ferns have been studied and found to be useful in the removal of heavy metals, especially arsenic, from the soil. Other ferns with some economic significance include: The study of ferns and other pteridophytes is called pteridology. A pteridologist is a specialist in the study of pteridophytes in a broader sense that includes the more distantly related lycophytes. Pteridomania is a term for the Victorian era craze of fern collecting
Flowering Plants of Africa Flowering Plants of Africa Flowering Plants of Africa is a series of illustrated botanical magazines akin to "Curtis's Botanical Magazine", initiated as Flowering Plants of South Africa by I. B. Pole-Evans in 1920. It is now published by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) in Pretoria. The magazine depicts and describes flowering plants from Africa and its neighbouring islands. The first volumes were printed in England by L. Reeve & Co. These first illustrations were done in black and white by lithography, zinc plates later replacing the stone. A copy of the original water colour guided teams of hand-colour