| rock brake | (n) dwarf deciduous lithophytic ferns |
| american rock brake | (n) rock-inhabiting fern of northern North America growing in massive tufts and having fronds resembling parsley, Syn. American parsley fern, Cryptogramma acrostichoides |
| purple rock brake | (n) very short shallowly creeping North American fern usually growing on cliffs or walls and having dark glossy leaf axes, Syn. Pellaea atropurpurea |
| cliff brake | (n) any of several small lithophytic ferns of tropical and warm temperate regions, Syn. rock brake, cliff-brake |
| rock polypody | (n) chiefly lithophytic or epiphytic fern of North America and east Asia, Syn. rock brake, Polypodium virgianum, American wall fern |