TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL	previous taxon | next taxon Jepson Interchange (more information)
	©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California Print edition is available from the University of California Press

	The second edition of The Jepson Manual (2012) is available from the University of California Press
	See also the Jepson eFlora, which parallels the Second Edition

DENNSTAEDTIACEAE

BRACKEN FAMILY

Alan R. Smith and Thomas Lemieux

Plant in soil; rhizome hairy, less often scaly, sometimes from bud near petiole base
Leaves alike; petiole strongly grooved on upper side, glabrous or hairy, rarely scaly, in X -section vascular strands 1–many in U shape; blade generally 1–5- or more pinnate; axes, blades glabrous or hairy, rarely scaly; veins pinnate from midrib, generally forked beyond, free except sometimes at margin of fertile segments
Sporangia at or near margin, generally ± covered by reflexed segment margins (false indusia); true indusium 0, or linear, purse-shaped, opening toward margin or fused with it to form cup; stalk cells in 1–3 rows; spores spheric or elliptic, scar of 3 radiating branches or linear
Genera in family: ± 17 genera, ± 375 species: especially tropical. Variously defined; Pteridium sometimes in its own family.