Aspidiaceae

Ctenitis hemsleyana, photographed by Robbin Moran.

Belongs within: Pteridales.

The Aspidiaceae is a large but often poorly defined family of ferns. The separation or otherwise of this family from others such as Dryopteridaceae has often been contentious, but Wang (1965) pointed out the raised costa of the leaves in Aspidiaceae as a significant distinction.

Characters (from Wang 1965): Middle-sized, terrestrial ferns; rhizome erect or sub-erect, dictyostelic, scaly; leaves tufted, generally uniform, simple pinnate to tripinnatifid; veins free or anastomosing, forming areoles with or without free included veinlets; rachis and costa raised on the upper surface and generally covered with pale brown multicellular articulate hairs; sori round or in a few cases acrostichoid; indusia reniform, or in some genera absent; spores bilateral with perispore.

Aspidiaceae
    |--Polystichopsis denticulata L54
    |--Rhipidopteris peltata L54
    |--Aspidites Harris 1961 BO02
    |    |--A. delicatula Barale & Ouaja 2002 BO02
    |    |--A. sewardi BO02
    |    `--A. thomasi BO02
    |--Tectaria I88
    |    |--T. coadunata (Smith) Christensen 1931 B06 (see below for synonymy)
    |    |--T. hippocrepis J87
    |    |--T. polymorpha (Wallich ex Hook.) Copel. 1907 B06 (see below for synonymy)
    |    |--T. subcordata H03
    |    `--T. tabonensis H03
    |--Aspidium Swartz 1800 M03
    |    |--A. fischeri S89
    |    |--A. meyeri S89
    |    |--A. multifidum D03
    |    |--A. orbiculatum D03
    |    |--A. pulcherrimum C45
    |    `--A. waikarense C45
    |--Ctenitis [incl. Parapolystichum] C49
    |    |--C. apiciflora (Wallich) Ching 1938 (see below for synonymy) I88
    |    |--C. cheilanthina J87
    |    |--C. clarkei (Baker) Ching 1936 (see below for synonymy) I88
    |    |--C. decomposita [=Dryopteris decomposita (Br.) Ktze. 1891 C49
    |    |--C. glabella [=Dryopteris glabella (Cunn.) Christensen 1905] C49
    |    |--C. hemsleyana L54
    |    |--C. interjecta L54
    |    |--C. manipurensis (Bedd.) Ching 1938 (see below for synonymy) I88
    |    |--C. nidus (Clarke) Ching 1938 (see below for synonymy) I88
    |    |--C. pallens H03
    |    |--C. subincisa J87
    |    `--C. velutina [=Dryopteris velutina (Rich.) Ktze. 1891] C49
    `--Cyrtomium B06
         |--C. caryotideum (Wallich) Presl 1836 (see below for synonymy) I88
         |--C. falcatum (L. f.) Presl 1836 [=Polypodium falcatum L. f. 1781] B06
         |--C. fortunei Smith 1866 I88
         |--C. hookerianum (Presl) Christensen 1913 (see below for synonymy) I88
         `--C. macrophyllum (Makino) Tagawa 1934 [=Aspidium falcatum var. macrophyllum Makino 1902] I88

Nomen nudum: Aspidium apenninicum Squinabol 1889 S89
             Aspidium cunninghamianum Colenso 1845 C45
             Aspidium oligocenicum Squinabol 1889 S89
             Aspidium pareti Squinabol 1889 S89

Ctenitis apiciflora (Wallich) Ching 1938 [=Aspidium apiciflorum Wallich ex Mett. 1858, Dryopteris apiciflora (Wallich) Ktze. 1891, Lastrea apiciflora (Wallich) Presl 1883, Lastrea filix-mas var. parallelogramma subvar. apiciflora (Wallich) Bedd. 1883, Nephrodium apiciflorum (Wallich) Hooker 1862] I88

Ctenitis clarkei (Baker) Ching 1936 [=Nephrodium clarkei Baker in Hooker 1874, Lastrea filix-mas var. parallelogramma subvar. clarkei (Baker) Bedd. 1883] I88

Ctenitis manipurensis (Bedd.) Ching 1938 [=Polypodium manipurensis Bedd. 1889, Phegopteris manipurensis (Bedd.) Bedd. 1892] I88

Ctenitis nidus (Clarke) Ching 1938 [=Nephrodium nidus Clarke 1876, Lastrea filix-mas var. parallelogramma subvar. nidus (Clarke) Bedd. 1883, N. apiciflorum var. nidus (Clarke) Clarke 1880] I88

Cyrtomium caryotideum (Wallich) Presl 1836 [=Aspidium caryotideum Wallich ex Hooker & Greville 1828, C. falcatum var. caryotideum (Wallich) Bedd. 1883] I88

Cyrtomium hookerianum (Presl) Christensen 1913 [=Lastrea hookeriana Presl 1836; incl. Aspidium caducum (Presl) Wallich ex Clarke 1880] I88

Tectaria coadunata (Smith) Christensen 1931 B06 [=Aspidium coadunatum Wallich ex Hooker & Greville 1831 I88, Nephrodium cicutarium var. coadunatum (Wallich) Clarke 1880 I88, Sagenia coadunata Smith in Hook. 1841 B06]

Tectaria polymorpha (Wallich ex Hook.) Copel. 1907 B06 [=Aspidium polymorphum Wallich 1828 B06, Nephrodium polymorphum (Wallich) Hooker & Baker 1865 I88]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BO02] Barale, G., & M. Ouaja. 2002. La biodiversité végétale des gisements d’âge Jurassique supérieur-Crétacé inférieur de Merbah El Asfer (Sud-Tunisien). Cretaceous Research 23: 707-737.

[B06] Biswas, A. 2006. Pteridophytes of Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 48 (1-4): 175-188.

[C45] Colenso, W. 1845. Memoranda of an excursion, made in the Northern Island of New Zealand, in the summer of 1841-2; intended as a contribution towards the natural productions of the New Zealand groupe: with particular reference to their botany (concluded). Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science 2: 241-308.

[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.

[D03] Dusén, P. 1903. The vegetation of western Patagonia. In Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia, 1896-1899, vol. 8 – Botany (W. B. Scott, ed.) pp. 1-34. The University: Princeton (New Jersey).

[H03] Heads, M. 2003. Ericaceae in Malesia: Vicariance biogeography, terrane tectonics and ecology. Telopea 10 (1): 311-449.

[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.

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

[M03] Macloskie, G. 1903. Pteridophyta, ferns and fernlike plants. In Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia, 1896-1899, vol. 8 – Botany (W. B. Scott, ed.) pp. 127-138. The University: Princeton (New Jersey).

[S89] Squinabol, S. 1889. Res Ligusticae. VII. – Cenno preliminare sulla flora fossile di Santa Giustina. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2a 7: 73-76.

Wang C.-H. 1965. A taxonomical study of the family Aspidiaceae from the mainland of Asia. Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica 10 (2): 121-130.