Common Name: LADY FERN FAMILY
Habit: Perennial herb in soil [on rocks]; rhizome short- to long-creeping or tree-like. Leaf: generally tufted or short-spaced, 5--200+ cm, generally +- alike; stipe firm or fleshy (easily crushed), base darker or not, with 2 vascular strands, often expanded at base ("trophopods"); blade generally 1--3-pinnate, +- glabrous or with hairs, hair-like scales, or gland-tipped hairs on axes, veins generally free (or netted); rachis, costa generally grooved adaxially. Sporangia: sori linear along veins, sometimes appearing round; indusia 0 or linear or J-shaped (round), opening away from the vein, when linear, generally back-to-back along a vein.
Genera In Family: 3--5 genera, +- 600 species: worldwide, especially tropics, wooded areas. Note: Comprises three diverse genera (mostly temperate Athyrium, Deparia; mostly tropical Diplazium), and smaller genera often segregated from Athyrium (Anisocampium, Cornopteris; Rothfels et al. 2012 Taxon 61:515--530). One of the most diverse families of the eupolypods II clade (suborder Aspleniineae; Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group 1 2016 J Syst Evol in press); most closely related to Blechnaceae and Onocleaceae (Rothfels et al. 2012 Syst Biol 61:490--509), and more distantly to Woodsiaceae, where often included (Smith et al. 2016 Taxon 55:705--731).
eFlora Treatment Author: Carl J. Rothfels & Alan R. Smith
Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin & Thomas J. Rosatti.