Lindsaeaceae is a

pantropical A pantropical ("all tropics") distribution is one which covers tropical regions of both hemispheres. Examples of species include caecilians, modern sirenians and the plant genera ''Acacia'' and ''Bacopa''. ''Neotropical'' is a zoogeographic term ...

family of ferns in the order

Polypodiales The order Polypodiales encompasses the major lineages of polypod ferns, which comprise more than 80% of today's fern species. They are found in many parts of the world including tropical, semitropical and temperate areas. Description Polypodiale ...

. It contains six or seven genera with about 220 known species, some of which also extend into the more temperate regions of eastern Asia, New Zealand, and South America.Lehtonen ''et al.'': Phylogenetics and classification of the pantropical fern family Lindsaeaceae
in the ''Botanical Journal of the Linnaen Society'' 2010

Description

Characteristics include: Rhizomes short to long creeping; rhizomes with nonclathrate scales or uniseriate hairs; blades 1-3 pinnate or more divided; veins usually free; sori marginal or submarginal;

indusia A sorus (pl. sori) is a cluster of sporangia (structures producing and containing spores) in ferns and fungi. A coenosorus (plural coenosori) is a compound sorus composed of multiple, fused sori. Etymology This New Latin word is from Ancient Gr ...

open towards margin, sometimes attached at sides, or sori covered by the reflexed segment margin.

Taxonomy

For more than a century, these ferns were considered part of the Davalliaceae. Then starting in the mid-twentieth century they began to be transferred to the

Dennstaedtiaceae Dennstaedtiaceae is one of fifteen families in the order Polypodiales, the most derived families within monilophytes (ferns). It comprises 10 genera with ca 240 known species, including one of the world's most abundant ferns, ''Pteridium aquilin ...

. Molecular data supported the separation of Lindsaeaceae into its own family, which was proposed in 1970. Lindsaeaceae is considered among the most basal of the families in the order Polypodiales. One hypothesis for the relationships within the order is shown in the following cladogram: The genus ''Lonchitis'' has many morphological characteristics similar to

, but a few characteristics of the spore are similar to the lindsaeoid genera, and molecular data placed this genus in Lindsaeaceae. It is now placed in the related family Lonchitidaceae.

Genera

The

Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group The Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group, or PPG, is an informal international group of systematic botanists who collaborate to establish a consensus on the classification of pteridophytes ( lycophytes and ferns) that reflects knowledge about plant relatio ...

classification of 2016 (PPG I) recognized seven genera. *'' Lindsaea'' Dryand. ex Sm. (about 180 species) *×'' Lindsaeosoria'' Wagner (1 species) *'' Nesolindsaea'' Lehtonen & Christenh. (2 species) *'' Odontosoria'' Fée (about 23 species) *'' Osmolindsaea'' (K.U.Kramer) Lehtonen & Christenh. (about 7 species) *'' Sphenomeris'' Maxon (3 species) *'' Tapeinidium'' (C.Presl) C.Chr. (18 species) *'' Xyropteris'' K.U.Kramer (1 species) Other sources retain ''Xyropteris'' in ''Lindsaea''. The extinct genus '' Proodontosoria'' from the Cenomanian aged

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...

of Myanmar has been assigned to the family. Other fossil remains assigned to the family include an indeterminate leaf fragment also from the Burmese amber, as well as a permineralized root from the

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/ Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0 ...

aged Aspen Shale of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

. Other genera that have been placed in the Lindsaeaceae are: *'' Lonchitis'' L. – transferred to its own family Lonchitidaceae *''

Saccoloma ''Saccoloma'' is a fern genus in family Saccolomataceae.

'' Kaulf. – transferred to its own family

Saccolomataceae Saccolomataceae is a family of ferns in the order Polypodiales with about 19 species. It has been formerly treated as part of the Dennstaedtiaceae, however it has been classified as its own family according to Smith et al. (2006) The genus '' Sa ...

*'' Cystodium'' J.Sm. – transferred to its own family

Cystodiaceae ''Cystodium'' is a fern in its own family, Cystodiaceae. It contains a single species: ''Cystodium sorbifolium'' . Because it looks like a small tree fern, it had previously been placed in the tree fern family Dicksoniaceae. Subsequent analysis ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1600094 Fern families Pantropical flora