(from *filum* "a thread," *quasi filatum incisum*), Ferns; one of the seven tribes or families of the vegetable kingdom, according to Linnæus, by whom it is thus characterized: "having their fructification on the back side of the frondes." They constitute the first order in the clas cryptogamia; and consist of 16 genera, which are divided into fructificationes, *spicatae*, *froudoferae*, et *radicatae*. This order comprehends the entire 16th clas of Tournefort, in whose system the filices make only a single genus, in the first section of the above-mentioned clas.

is also an order of plants in the *fragmenta methodi naturalis* of Linnæus. See **BOTANY INDEX**.