介紹台灣全部729種的蕨類與相關植物。

　　台灣是全球蕨類多樣性中心之一，在35800平方公里的區域內，分佈了超過700種蕨類及類蕨類植物。

　　本書以圖文並茂的方式介紹台灣以及周圍小島的所有蕨類，包括：
　　．目前已知的種類、亞種及混種。
　　．外來種
　　．總數多達4700張照片
　　．提供精準可靠的辨認要訣以分類其科屬種
　　．詳盡的背景資料
　　．對蕨類保育的建言
　　．各種蕨類的分布與頻率
　　．各種蕨類的植被帶與棲地
　　．同時提供學名、中文名、拼音與俗名
　　．豐富的參考書目
　　．詳細的索引，包含同義詞、錯誤的命名與在其他分類系統出現的命名

作者簡介

Ralf Knapp

　　1969年生於德國埃柏巴哈，1998年起長居於台灣台北。約12年前因工作至台灣時，還是個電腦工程師與業餘蕨類研究者。但自從成為台灣女婿後，使他對研究台灣蕨類與裸子植物的興趣逐日遽增，更從此愛上台灣。來台前曾研究過中歐的維管植物，也曾參予巴伐利亞保育罕見植物的計畫。在台灣研究的這些年，他已建立超過四千份植物標本與將近十萬份的植物圖像資料庫。
 
　　本書為作者多年來的研究心血，詳盡介紹了台灣蕨類的多樣性。透過辜嚴倬雲植物保種中心執行長李家維教授的牽線，終將台灣豐富的蕨類生態一次呈現在讀者面前！
 
Ralf Knapp.

　　Born in Eberbach, Germany in 1969, and now lives in Taipei, Taiwan since 1998. More than 12 years ago he came to Taiwan to work in his profession as electrical engineer for a German company in their Taipei office. After marrying a Taiwanese, he could intensify his studies of Taiwanese pteridophytes and gymnosperms, which he started some 7 years ago. Prior to moving to Taiwan he had been working on Central European vascular plants, and for some years he was invited to join a program of the Bavarian Ministry of Environmental Protection focusing on monitoring and protection of rare and endemic plants. During his field work in Taiwan he built-up a private herbarium with now more than 4,000 specimen sheets, and an image database of exceeding 100,000.
 
　　This book is a detailed account pf present-day diversity of pteridophytes in Taiwan. Luckily, Professor Li Chia-Wei, the CEO of  "Dr. Cecilia Koo Botanic Conservation and Environmental Protection Foundation", acts as go-between, finally introduces the immense diversity of ferns in Taiwan to everyone all at once!

Prefacei
Foreword iii

Acknowledgements v

1　Introduction
Counties of Taiwan　1
Recent checklists and floras for Taiwan's pteridophytes　3
Taxonomic system 4
Cytotypes, hybrids and infra-specific taxa 6
Invasive taxa　7
Using this book　7
Recommended literature　10

2　Glossary and Abbreviations
General anatomy of ferns　11
Specific terms for a selection of families　15
Alphabetical listing of terms　16
Recommended literature　31

3　Keys
Key to families　34
Keys to genera and lower ranks 47

4　Comments
Alternative taxonomic systems　431
Comments regarding families and lower ranks　432
Taxa endemic to Taiwan　483
Taxa with a singular occurrence in Taiwan　486

5　References
Literature　491
Internet-based resources　513
Virtual (online) herbaria　514

6　Images
Images　517
Sources of images　948

7　Index
Index to scientific names　954
Index to Chinese names　1029
Index to place names　1051