Habit: Rhizome generally deep, long-creeping, branched; often forming dense stands; dead leaves persistent; scales 0.
Leaf: stipe +- black near base, with dense, +- brown hairs, straw-colored above, +- glabrous; blade 2--4-pinnate, abaxially generally hairy; pinnae with nectaries in axils or not; veins free except at margin of fertile segments.
Sporangia: generally continuous except at sinuses, on vein tips and veins connecting vein tips, +- covered by false indusium (sterile segment margins similarly modified); true indusium inconspicuous or 0; spores spheric.
Species In Genus: +- 5 species: temperate, tropics.
Etymology: (Greek: small fern)
Note: Often considered (e.g., by Tryon) to comprise 1 +- worldwide, highly variable sp., but especially in tropics, subtrops, species seem distinct. Plants belonging to this genus are among the most common, wide-ranging in the world, are often invasive, and regenerate quickly and vigorously after fires.
Jepson eFlora Author: John C. Game, Alan R. Smith & Thomas Lemieux
Reference: Tryon 1941 Contr Gray Herb 134:1--31, 37--67
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
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