Cyatheaceae

Mamaku Cyathea medullaris, photographed by Kahuroa.

Belongs within: Leptosporangiatae.

The Cyatheaceae are the scaly tree ferns, distinguished by the presence of scales on the stems and petioles. Most species are arborescent, and may reach up to 20 m in height. Major genera can be distinguished by scale morphology: scales of Alsophila possess an apical seta, while those of Cyathea do not (Korall et al. 2007).

<==Cyatheaceae [Cyatheales]
    |--Cnemidaria horrida SL05
    |--Alsophila J87
    |    |--A. hotteana J87
    |    |--A. minor J87
    |    |--A. pruinata L54
    |    |--A. salvinii L54
    |    `--A. woodwardioides [=Nephelea woodwardioides] J87
    |--Cyathocaulis SS04
    `--Cyathea WP05
         |--C. arborea SL05
         |--C. atrox C78
         |--C. chinensis Copel. 1909 (see below for synonymy) I88
         |--C. colensoi [=Alsophila colensoi Hooker 1864] C49
         |--C. cunninghamii A27
         |--C. dealbata L03
         |--C. falciloba [=Hemitelia falciloba Colenso 1892, H. falcifolia (l. c.)] C49
         |--C. furfuracea J87
         |--C. gigantea (Wallich) Holtt. 1935 [=Alsophila gigantea Wallich ex Hooker 1844] I88
         |--C. gleichenioides C78
         |--C. harrisii J87
         |--C. kermadecensis A27
         |--C. medullaris L03
         |--C. microphylla Mett. 1856 C49
         |--C. milnei A27
         |--C. novae-zelandiae (see below for synonymy) C49
         |--C. poeppigii WP05
         |--C. smithii [=Hemitelia smithii Hooker 1865] C49
         `--C. spinulosa Wallich ex Hooker 1844 I88

Cyathea chinensis Copel. 1909 [incl. Amphicosmia brunoniana (Hooker) Bedd. 1883, C. brunoniana (Hooker) Clarke 1880] I88

Cyathea novae-zelandiae [=Hemitelia microphylla Colenso 1895 non Cyathea microphylla Mett. 1856, H. smithii var. microphylla Cheeseman 1906] C49

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A27] Andersen, J. C. 1927. Popular names of New Zealand plants. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 57: 905-977.

[C78] Clunie, N. M. U. 1978. The vegetation. In Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea vol. 1 (J. S. Womersley, ed.) pp. 1-11. Melbourne University Press: Carlton South (Australia).

[C49] Crookes, M. W. 1949. A revised and annotated list of New Zealand Filicinae. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 77 (2): 209-225.

[I88] Iwatsuki, K. 1988. An enumeration of the pteridophytes of Nepal. In The Himalayan Plants vol. 1 (H. Ohba & S. B. Malla, eds) The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 231-339.

[J87] Judd, W. S. 1987. Floristic study of Morne La Visite and Pic Macaya National Parks, Haiti. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum – Biological Sciences 32 (1): 1-136.

Korall, P., D. S. Conant, J. S. Metzgar, H. Schneider & K. M. Pryer. 2007. A molecular phylogeny of scaly tree ferns (Cyatheaceae). American Journal of Botany 94 (5): 873-886.

[L03] Leschen, R. A. B. 2003. Erotylidae (Insecta: Coleoptera: Cucujoidea): Phylogeny and review. Fauna of New Zealand 47: 1-108.

[L54] Lötschert, W. 1954. Beitrag zur Pteridophyten-Flora von Mittel-Amerika. Senckenbergiana Biologica 35 (1-2): 109-119.

[SS04] Schneider, H., E. Schuettpelz, K. M. Pryer, R. Cranfill, S. Magallón & R. Lupia. 2004. Ferns diversified in the shadow of angiosperms. Nature 428: 553-557.

[SL05] Small, R. L., E. B. Lickey, J. Shaw & W. D. Hauk. 2005. Amplification of noncoding chloroplast DNA for phylogenetic studies in lycophytes and monilophytes with a comparative example of relative phylogenetic utility from Ophioglossaceae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 36: 509-522.

[WP05] Wikström, N., & K. M. Pryer. 2005. Incongruence between primary sequence data and the distribution of a mitochondrial atp1 group II intron among ferns and horsetails. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 36: 484-493.