Pteridophytes Richness Along The Coastal Forests Of Eastern Africa

Pteridophytes are one of the very first plants to adapt to life on land, before the flowering plants. Globally, there are about 12,000 species of pteridophytes: 97% represent ferns, while 3% are fern allies. The East African Plant database and the National Herbarium of Tanzania specimens’ data were used to filter Coastal Eastern Africa forest species of pteridophytes that are analyzed in this chapter. Two hundred sixty-nine (269) species of pteridophytes of the Polypodiopsida class in 10 orders, namely Cyatheales, Gleicheniales, Hymenophyllales, Isoetales, Ophioglossales, Osmundales, Polypodiales, Psilotales, Salviniales, and Schizaeales and 14 families were studied for their distribution and conservation status. Most of these were found to be of least concern in the IUCN categories of threats due to their wider distribution.