''Athyrium'' (lady-fern) is a genus of about 180 species of terrestrial
ferns, with a
cosmopolitan distribution
In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon, usually a species, is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The ext ...
. It is placed in the family
Athyriaceae
The Athyriaceae (ladyferns and allies) are a family of terrestrial ferns in the order Polypodiales. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), the family is placed in the suborder Aspleniineae, and includes two gene ...
, in the order
Polypodiales.
[
Its genus name is from Greek '' a-'' ('without') and Latinized Greek '' thyreos'' ('shield'), describing its inconspicuous ]indusium
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 ...
(sorus' covering).[Entry "lady fern", ''New Oxford American Dictionary 3rd edition'' (2010) by Oxford University Press, Inc.]
''Athyrium'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...
species including the small angle shades and '' Sthenopis auratus''.
Species
There are about 180, including:
References
External links
Flora of ChinaFlora EuropaeaFlora of North America
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7237437
Athyriaceae
Fern genera
