Schizaea

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]

Schizaea
Schizaea pectinata showing crozier, fertile fronds, and grass-like barren fronds
Scientific classification Edit this 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
  • Lophidium Richard 1792 nom. rej.
  • Microschizaea Reed 1948
  • Ripidium Bernhardi 1801 non Trinius 1822

Species

Phylogeny of Schizaea[4][5]

(Microschizaea)

S. tenella Kaulf.

S. rupestris R. Br.

S. fistulosa Labill. (Comb fern, narrow comb fern)

S. australis Gaudich. (Southern comb fern)

S. robusta Baker 1868

(Schizaea)

S. pusilla Pursh (Curly grass fern)

S. pectinata (L.) Sw.

S. medusa Kuo et al. 2022

S. bifida Willd. (Forked comb fern)

S. dichotoma (L.) Sm. (Fan fern)

S. incurvata Schkuhr

S. stricta Lellinger

S. poeppigiana Sturm

S. sprucei Hook. ex Bak. & Hook.

S. elegans (Vahl) Sw.

S. fluminensis Miers ex Sturm

Other species include:

  • S. amazonica (Christ) Takeuchi
  • S. boninensis (Nakai) H. Ohba
  • S. kikuzatonis M.Ogata
  • S. malaccana Bak.
  • S. montis-petrae Brade
  • S. pacificans Mart.
  • S. pseudodichotoma Bierh.
  • S. rhacoindusiata Bierh.
  • S. ×diversispora Bierh.

References
  1. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Schizaea". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  2. Sim, Thomas Robertson (1915). The Ferns of South Africa. London & Edinburgh: Cambridge University Press.
  3. Brian Swale, Michael Hassler. Family Schizaeaceae, genus Schizaea. http://homepages.caverock.net.nz/~bj/fern/schizaea.htm
  4. Nitta, Joel H.; Schuettpelz, Eric; Ramírez-Barahona, Santiago; Iwasaki, Wataru; et al. (2022). "An Open and Continuously Updated Fern Tree of Life". Frontiers in Plant Science. 13: 909768. doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.909768. PMC 9449725. PMID 36092417.
  5. "Tree viewer: interactive visualization of FTOL". FTOL v1.5.0 [GenBank release 256]. 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.

World species list for Schizaea: http://homepages.caverock.net.nz/~bj/fern/schizaea.htm


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