Schizaea | |
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Schizaea pectinata showing crozier, fertile fronds, and grass-like barren fronds | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Division: | Polypodiophyta |
Class: | Polypodiopsida |
Order: | Schizaeales |
Family: | Schizaeaceae |
Genus: | Schizaea Sm. |
Type species | |
Schizaea dichotoma (L.) Smith | |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
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Schizaea is a small genus of specialized ferns in the family Schizaeaceae. Common names include curlygrass fern [1] and comb fern. Some species are very small and inconspicuous, and so may often be overlooked in nature. The genus is distinctive and not at all like the common conception of a fern, though it is still considered a true fern (leptosporangiate). The sterile fronds (trophophylls) are grass-like, and the spore-bearing fertile frond (sporophyll) is similar, but with a small, pinnate fertile segment at its apex. The upper surface of the pinnules bear the sessile capsules. [2] Various of the roughly two dozen species have been reported from widely separated regions, including much of the tropical Old and New World, parts of the Eastern USA, Chile, the Falkland Islands, and various Pacific islands, including several islands of New Caledonia, as well as Australia and New Zealand. [3] In Africa at least two species are endemic to South Africa. [2]
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Other species include:
Schizaeales is an order of ferns.
Anemia is a genus of ferns. It is the only genus in the family Anemiaceae in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016. Alternatively, the genus may be placed as the only genus in the subfamily Anemioideae of a more broadly defined family Schizaeaceae, the family placement used in Plants of the World Online as of November 2019. Its species are sometimes called flowering ferns, but this term is more commonly applied to ferns of the genus Osmunda. Fronds are dimorphic; in fertile fronds, the two lowermost pinnae are highly modified to bear the sporangia.
Lygodium is a genus of about 40 species of ferns, native to tropical regions across the world, with a few temperate species in eastern Asia and eastern North America. It is the sole genus in the family Lygodiaceae in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016. Alternatively, the genus may be placed as the only genus in the subfamily Lygodioideae of a more broadly defined family Schizaeaceae, the family placement used in Plants of the World Online as of November 2019. Per recent molecular evidence, Lygodiaceae is thought to have diverged relatively early from the other members of the Schizaeales due to the relatively high level of synonymous sequence divergence between the families within the Schizaeales.
Sceptridium is a genus of seedless vascular plants in the family Ophioglossaceae, closely allied to the genus Botrychium. It is also closely related to the genus Botrypus. Sceptridium species are commonly called the grape-ferns.
The order Cyatheales, which includes most tree ferns, is a taxonomic order of the fern class, Polypodiopsida. No clear morphological features characterize all of the Cyatheales, but DNA sequence data indicate the order is monophyletic. Some species in the Cyatheales have tree-like growth forms from a vertical rhizome, others have shorter or horizontal expanding rhizomes.
Salvinia or watermosses is a genus of free-floating aquatic ferns in the family Salviniaceae. The genus is named in honor of 17th-century Italian naturalist Anton Maria Salvini, and the generic name was first published in 1754 by French botanist Jean-François Séguier in Plantae Veronenses, a description of the plants found around Verona. Twelve species are recognized, at least three of which are believed to be hybrids in part because their sporangia are found to be empty.
Oleandra is a genus of ferns. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016, it is the only genus in the family Oleandraceae, which is placed in suborder Polypodiineae, order Polypodiales. Alternatively, the family may be placed in a very broadly defined family Polypodiaceae sensu lato as the subfamily Oleandroideae.
Nephrolepis is a genus of about 30 species of ferns. It is the only genus in the family Nephrolepidaceae, placed in the suborder Aspleniineae of the order Polypodiales in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016. The genus is commonly referred to as macho ferns or Boston ferns. The fronds are long and narrow, and once-pinnate, in the case of one Bornean species reaching thirty feet in length.
Tmesipteris, the hanging fork ferns, is a genus of ferns, one of two genera in the family Psilotaceae, order Psilotales . Tmesipteris is restricted to certain lands in the Southern Pacific, notably Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. In New Zealand this hanging epiphyte is common in the warm temperate rain forests of both main islands, where it can normally be found as short spiky dark-green fronds, often with lighter bag-like sporangia at the bases of some of its "leaves". The plant possesses no true leaves; what appear to be leaves are flattened stems. The fronds emerge directly from the fibrous root-mats which clad the trunks of mature tree ferns such as Dicksonia and Cyathea. Tmesipteris is from the Greek language, meaning a "cut fern", referring to the truncated leaf tips.
Hymenophyllum is a genus of ferns in the family Hymenophyllaceae. Its name means "membranous leaf", referring to the very thin translucent tissue of the fronds, which gives rise to the common name filmy fern for this and other thin-leaved ferns. The leaves are generally only one cell thick and lack stomata, making them vulnerable to desiccation. Consequently, they are found only in very humid areas, such as in moist forests and among sheltered rocks. They are small and easy to overlook.
Plagiogyria is a genus of ferns, the only genus in family Plagiogyriaceae in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016. Alternatively, the family may be treated as the subfamily Plagiogyrioideae of a very broadly defined family Cyatheaceae, the placement used for the genus in Plants of the World Online as of November 2019.
Trichomanes is a genus of ferns in the family Hymenophyllaceae, termed bristle ferns. The circumscription of the genus is disputed. All ferns in the genus are filmy ferns, with leaf tissue typically 2 cells thick. This thinness generally necessitates a permanently humid habitat, and makes the fronds somewhat translucent. Because of this membrane-like frond tissue, the plant is prone to drying out. “Filmy ferns” in the taxa Hymenophyllaceae grow in constantly wet environments. Many are found in cloud forests such as “Choco” in Colombia. There are also members of the taxa that can grow submersed in water.
Vittaria, the shoestring ferns, is a genus of ferns in the Vittarioideae subfamily of the family Pteridaceae. It had previously been placed in the family Vittariaceae, but that family is no longer recognized.
Cryptogramma is a genus of ferns known commonly as rockbrakes or parsley ferns. They are one of the three genera in the Cryptogrammoideae subfamily of the Pteridaceae. Cryptogramma ferns can be found in temperate regions on several continents worldwide. These ferns have two kinds of leaves which often look so different that at first glance they appear to belong to different plants. The fertile leaves have long, narrow, bumpy segments with undersides covered thickly in sporangia. The edges of the segments may curl back to cover the sporangia, forming a false indusium. The sterile leaves have thinner, wider segments which may be rounded and resemble the leaves of parsley. These ferns grow in rocky areas, often in crevices and cracks.
Antrophyum is a genus of ferns in the family Pteridaceae. They are commonly known as lineleaf ferns.
Coniogramme is one of three genera in the subfamily Cryptogrammoideae of the fern family Pteridaceae. A cultivated species, Coniogramme pilosa, is known as "bamboo fern."
Actinostachys is a genus of small ferns originally included in the genus Schizaea. The genus was segregated on the basis of the flabelliform (fan-shaped) laminae. The genus is colloquially called the ray ferns.
Acrostichum is a fern genus in the Parkerioideae subfamily of the Pteridaceae. It was one of the original pteridophyte genera delineated by Linnaeus. It was originally drawn very broadly, including all ferns that had sori apparently "acrostichoid", or distributed in a uniform mass across the back of the frond, rather than organized in discrete sori. This led Linnaeus to include such species as Asplenium platyneuron in the genus, because the specimen he received had sori so crowded that it appeared acrostichoid.
Sticherus is a genus of about 80–90 species of fern.
Abrodictyum is a fern genus in the family Hymenophyllaceae. The genus is accepted in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 but not by some other sources, which sink it into a broadly defined Trichomanes.
World species list for Schizaea: http://homepages.caverock.net.nz/~bj/fern/schizaea.htm