Botany Photos

The Clubmoss family comprises about 500 species in about nine genera depending on ones taxonomic taste. These genera are: Dendrolycopodium, Diphasiastrum, Huperzia, Lycopodiella, Lycopodium, Palhinhaea, Phlegmariurus, Phylloglossum and Pseudolycopodiella. Huperzia is the largest genus with about 300 species and a worldwide distribution. Many species reproduce vegetatively by wind dispersed gemmae.

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The ca. 700 species of Mossferns can be found globally. There is only one genus, Selaginella, presently recognized, over half of the species belong to the subgroup Bryodesma, which should be recognized at a generic level. The plants resemble small mosses, hence their name.

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The Horsetails count two genera: Equisetum with 7 species and Hippochaete with 6. These are peculiar plants with articulated stems and whorled branches. The branches were used to polish metal pots, because their cells contain high amounts of silicates. That is a reason why the plants also fossilize well. Their ancestors are known as one of the earliest groups of land plants, creating forests in the Carboniferous. Now it is a family of temperate areas in the northern hemisphere, though some species extend into the tropics. The horsetails were always considered to be in a separate group from all other ferns, but recent studies on the molecular phylogeny have shown that they are ferns and distantly related to the Marattiaceae. Links: The Giant Horsetails, World of Equisetum.

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A family of ca 170 species divided over three larger genera: Angiopteris with ca. 60 species in East Asia, the Pacific and Madagascar; the neotropical genus Danaea with some 50 species and the pantropical Marattia with ca. 50 species. The smaller genera Archangiopteris, Macroglossum and Protomarattia all occur in Southeast Asia and have once all been included in Angiopteris from which they are not very distinct. The remaining species Christensenia aesculifolia is quite different from the other Marattiaceae, and should be placed in a separate family. Considering that this is the family I study, a little extra information is on its place.
Angiopteris or Elephant Ferns are indeed huge ferns, some species measuring leaves of over 7 m. long and 4 m. wide. They have bulky, globular rhizomes, with thick leathery ear-like stipules. Their sori (spore producing structures) are free. The leaves are twice feathered. Archangiopteris has once feathered alternate leaves and creeping rhizomes.
Marattia occurring in tropical mountain forests, also had large globular rhizomes, but its leaves can be twice to four times feathered and the sori are fused in a synangium, and cup shaped structure with pores. Danaea occurs only in the American tropics and has simple or once feathered leaves with opposite leaflets. It has synangia that cover the whole lower side of the fertile leaves. Although Danaea is usually much smaller then Angiopteris, there are species known with leaves of 3 m long. Rhizomes can be creeping or upright, and are usually smaller then those of Angiopteris.

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The Moonworts or Adder’s Tongue family is a small family of about 80 species, occurring worldwide, from the arctic tundra’s to the tropical rainforests. They have a reduced root system, and usually only few shoots per plant. The shoot commonly bears a single leaf, which is divided in a fertile and a sterile part, which often look quite different. The largest genera are the Adder’s-Tongues: Ophioglossum (incl. Ophioderma, Cheiroglossa), with ca 30 species, and the Moonworts or Grape Ferns: Botrychium with about 25 species worldwide. Rests me to mention two monotypic genera: Helminthostachys zeylanica, from tropical Asia, tropical Australia and New Caledonia; and the recently discovered Mankyua chejuensis, endemic to Cheju Island, Korea.

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The Whisk Ferns were always considered to be the most primitive of all living land plants, because of their dichotomous branches, reduced leaves, simple vascular system and the lack of roots. Molecular studies show however a close relationship with the Ophioglossaceae. The small genus Psilotum with two species has a cosmopolitan distribution, and grows in all warm and wet areas. I have no photographs of the exciting second genus Tmesipteris (10 spp.) of the Pacific and New Zealand.

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The small and remarkable Royal Ferns are only some 25 species in three genera: Osmunda, with ca 15 species in the warm temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, and two genera in the Australian-Pacific region, Leptopteris with 7 species and two species of Todea: T. papuana and T. barbara. The latter also occurs in South Africa, and thus shows a ‘Gondwana’ distribution. Morphologically the family seems intermediate between the eusporangiate ferns and leptosporangiate ferns, which also shows in the spore numbers per sporangium. Eusporangiates (having large thick walled sporangia), have thousands of spores per sporangium, the Osmundaceae have hundreds, where the Leptosporangiate ferns (having thin walled stalked sporangia) have usually 64, sometimes 32 spores per sporangium. The royal ferns have sporangia that are borne in clusters on short lobes, and are large and spherical, but with the walls only one cell layer thick. Some species have green spores, which need to stay humid. The plants usually grow in swamps, stream banks, and in the tropics in savannas.

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This peculiar family of some 125 species in six genera (Dicranopteris, Diplopterygium, Gleichenella pectinata, Gleichenia, Sticherus, and Stromatopteris moniliformis), is strictly tropical. It occurs on disturbed areas, like roadsides, forest clear cuts, burned land and on old landslides. The common name Forking Fern is well chosen, because the leaves are usually dichotomously divided and sometimes several times branched, forming opposite fan-shaped leaflets. Many species also have indefinite growth-tips, and can form massive stands of scrambling stands. Some species like Dicranopteris flexuosa and Glechenella pectinata can be very invasive in natural savannas after burning, overgrowing everything else.

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The over 600 species of Filmy Ferns are divided equally over two genera: Hymenophyllum mainly in subtropical regions and mountains in the tropics and Trichomanes mainly in tropical areas, although some temperate species exist also, like the West-European Killarney Fern Trichomanes speciosum. Remarkable character of this family is the thin translucent lamina, that is in most species only one cell-layer thick. Because of this character the plants need a constant air humidity to grow. They thus grow in sheltered places in dryer regions and temperate zones, but can be found growing freely in rain and cloudforests, which are almost always humid.
The sporangia are cup or vase shaped and have a central stalk (receptacle) on which the spores are born.

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This small family of 25 species contains two genera of Ray Ferns: Actinostachys, with 16 species and Schizaea with ca. 20 species. They have a pantropical distribution but a few species like the Curly Grass Schizaea pusilla occurs on sandy flats in Northeast north America. There are also some species in temperate South America and New Zealand. The family is related to the Anemiaceae and Lygodiaceae, which shows in the contracted fertile parts. The sporangia are protected by a reflexed margin.

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A small family of Climbing Ferns, in which all 25 species belong to the genus Lygodium. The plants have a short creeping rhizome from which the long leaves emerge. The leaves have indefinite growth and twine with the rachises and petioles. Some leaves can grow to over 10 m long. Except the North American Lygodium palmatum, all species grow in mesic habitats throughout the tropics. Lygodium japonicum has been introduced into many countries and is commonly naturalized. The fertile parts of the climbing ferns are formed on the end of pinna lobes and are contracted. The sporangia are protected by a dorsal flap of leaf tissue.

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The Flowering Fern family contains about 100 species all in the pantropical genus Anemia, although some taxonomists recognize another genus Mohria (Africa), which according to the most recent phylogenetic analyses falls within the genus Anemia. They are called flowering ferns because of the conspicuous, yellow or brown, sporangium-covered fertile leaves or leaflets that are held erect and above the sterile leaves. Superficially they resemble the royal ferns in this character, in which they were placed by early botanists. The fertile parts are contracted, like in the related Schizaeaceae and Lygodiaceae, and have unprotected sporangia borne in two rows.

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incl. Azollaceae.
The Floating Ferns contain two genera, that previously were both placed in separate families, but genetic evidence now shows that these should be placed in a single family. The genus Azolla is pantropical, but also occurs in temperate zones an counts 6 species. In East Asia these are important for fertilizing rice paddies. The genus Salvinia has 10 species, that can be found in ponds and lakes throughout the tropics. Two species, the molesting floting fern (Salvinia molesta), and the Mexican Azolla are very agressive invasive species. The floating ferns are heterosporous, meaning that, like Selaginellaceae, they produce two different sizes of spores; mega- and microspores.
link:The Azolla page.

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The Clover Ferns are related to the Floating Ferns, and are also heterosporous, making mega- and microspores, that are encapsuled in hard sporocarps. There are three genera: Marsilea with ca 60 species occurring in tropical and warm temperate regions worldwide, and can be recognized by the leaves that have four ‘clover’-like leaflets. The monotypic Regnellidium diphyllum from temperate South America (only known from a few populations near the Brazil-Argentina border), resembles Marsilea, but is unique in having only two leaflets. The third genus Pilularia, with 5 species in temperate regions of both hemispheres, mostly resembles a small rush or grass. These minute plants resemble Marsilea but lack the leaflets completely. They can be found along nutrient poor shores.

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A family with a single Neotropical genus. There are two (perhaps three) species: Metaxya rostrata, which is rather widespread, and by far the most common fern of the Guianas, and Metaxya lanosa that occurs only in white-sand forests. The Metaxyaceae are related to the treeferns.

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One of the Treefern families, with ca. 40 species. There are six genera: Calochlaena (6), Cibotium (11), Culcita (3), Cystodiopteris sorbifolia, Dicksonia (ca. 20). Thyrsopteris elegans, an endemic of the Juan Fernandez Islands.

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A small family of treeferns with a remarkable white lower side of the leaved, and hairy rhizomes. There are three species in the genus Lophosoria.

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By far the largest of the Treefern families, with ca 630 species in five genera, occurring throughout the humid tropics. Alsophila (incl. Nephelea), is a large genus (ca. 250 spp.) of spiny treeferns, but the large pantropical genus Cyathea (incl. Cnemidaria, Hemitelia, Trichipteris), with ca. 250 spp. also has several species bearing feroceous spines. Gymnosphaera (3) and Sphaeropteris (ca 120) are other examples of treefern genera. They can be recognized by forming a crown of usually large (several times) pinnate leaves on top of a tall trunk that bears the scars of leaves. This gives them a prehistoric look, and in fact fossils of the group are known from the age of the dinosaurs. The genus Hymenophyllopsis, with ca. 8 species from the Guayana Highlands, is very different in habit from all the other tree ferns in resembling the [url= http://www.botanyphotos.net/thumbnails.php?album=20]Filmy Ferns[/url]. Formerly this genus was placed in its own family the Hymenophyllopsidaceae, but studies on the genetic phylogeny of treeferns by [url= http://www.pryerlab.net/publication/fichier734.pdf]P. Korall et al. 2006[/url] shows that this genus should be included in the Cyatheaceae.

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A fern family of ca 200 tropical fern species, with Lindsaea being the largest with at least 150 species. Lindsaea can be recognized by the marginal sori and false indusia, and can sometimes superficially resemble Adiantum. There are several smaller genera in this family: Odontosoria (11, Neotropics), Ormoloma imrayanum, (Hispaniola, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Costa Rica, Panama, French Guiana, Mount Roraima), Sphenomeris (ca 13 Paleotropics, S. clavata in Neotropics), Tapeinidium (17) Tropical Asia and West Pacific, Xyropteris stortii (Borneo, Sumatra). Lonchitis with 2 species (L. hirsuta in Neotropics and L. occidentalis in Tropical Africa) is placed in the Lindsaeaceae by A. R. Smith et al 2006, but it differs in many characters and is placed in its own family, the Lonchitidaceae.

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A small family of a single genus with two species: the Neotropical Lonchitis hirsuta, and the Tropical African Lonchitis occidentalis. The family is placed in the Lindsaeaceae by A. R. Smith et al 2006, but it differs from that family by haveing fleshy dorsiventral rhizomes and very hairy leaves with proliferations at the tip. They are often found along streams in wet tropical forests.

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A pantropical family of ca 12 species. The two genera Saccoloma (Neotropics)and Orthopteris (Paleotropics) are often treated as a single genus, but further studies are needed to confirm if the species are congeneric. Short-creeping to erect, somewhat trunk-like rhizomes, free veins, the sori terminal on the veins, and the cup-shaped indusia characterize this family.

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The Bracken family counts ca 170 species globally. Most species have a creeping rhizome and can sometimes invade large areas. The sori are placed under the recurved margin. There are eleven genera: Blotiella (ca. 15), Coptodipteris wilfordii (East Asia), Dennstaedtia (incl. Costaricia, ca 60), Histiopteris (ca 7), Hypolepis (ca 60), Leptolepia novae-zelandiae (New Zealand), Microlepia (ca 70), Monachosorum (ca 7, East Asia), Oenotrichia (ca 3), Paesia (12), and Pteridium (bracken) with about 10 species worldwide. Bracken was traditionally thought to consist only of a single species, but recent taxonomic studies have shown that the subspecies and varieties of Pteridium aquilinum constitute true species.

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A large family of ferns, now including Adiantaceae, Cheilanthaceae and Vittariaceae. The genera presented here are: Acrostichum, Adianopsis, Adiantum, Anopteris, Bommeria, Cheilanthes, Cryptomeria, Dicranoglossum, Jamesonia, Llavea, Neurocallis, Notholaena, Onychium, Paraceterach, Pellaea, Pityrogramma, Vittaria, and of course Pteris.

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Spleenworts are all in the genus Asplenium, including Camptosorus, Ceterach and Phyllitis.

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Genera: Athyrium, Callipteris, Deparia, Diplazium, Gynmocarpium, Hemidictyum, Woodsia.

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Matteuccia, the ostrich ferns, and Onoclea sensibilis, the sensitive fern.

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Genera: Blechnum, Doodia, Salpichlaena, Stenochlaena, Woodwardia.

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including: Ephedraceae and Welwitschiaceae

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