''Haplopteris'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of vittarioid

ferns The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

, a member of subfamily

Vittarioideae Vittarioideae is a subfamily of the fern family Pteridaceae, in the order Polypodiales. The subfamily includes the previous families Adiantaceae (adiantoids or maidenhair ferns) and Vittariaceae (vittarioids or shoestring ferns). Description The ...

and

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Pteridaceae Pteridaceae is a family of ferns in the order Polypodiales, including some 1150 known species in ca 45 genera (depending on taxonomic opinions), divided over five subfamilies. The family includes four groups of genera that are sometimes recogni ...

Description

Like other vittarioids, the members of ''Haplopteris'' are epiphytes. The

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

has a distinct upper and lower side, lacking radial symmetry, a characteristic that separates it from ''

Radiovittaria ''Radiovittaria'' is a genus of ferns in the subfamily Vittarioideae of the family Pteridaceae. Species are native to southeast Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost coun ...

''. Leaves are borne in two ranks in a single plane, and are usually simple, occasionally forked. The leaves have a distinct

costa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge of th ...

(midrib). Most species have netlike leaf veins which form two rows of areolae (the "gaps" in the net) on either side of the midline; two species bear a single leaf vein only. The linear sori, in most species, are confined to a

commissural A commissure () is the location at which two objects abut or are joined. The term is used especially in the fields of anatomy and biology. * The most common usage of the term refers to the brain's commissures, of which there are at least nine. Su ...

vein (paralleling the edge of the leaf margin and set just back from it, joining the ends of the netted veins); in the two species with a single vein, the sori follow that vein. The sori bear

paraphyses Paraphyses are erect sterile filament-like support structures occurring among the reproductive apparatuses of fungi, ferns, bryophytes and some thallophytes. The singular form of the word is paraphysis. In certain fungi, they are part of the f ...

(minute hairs) with a cell at the tip shaped like an inverted cone, separating it from '' Vittaria'' ''sensu stricto'', with slender paraphyses.

Taxonomy

The genus was first described by

Carl Borivoj Presl Carl Borivoj Presl (; 17 February 1794 – 2 October 1852) was a Czech botanist. Biography Presl lived his entire life in Prague, and was a professor of botany at the University of Prague (1833–52).Pteris ''Pteris'' (brake) is a genus of about 300 species of ferns in the subfamily Pteridoideae of the family Pteridaceae. They are native to tropical and subtropical regions, southward to New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, north to Japan and N ...

'' ''sensu'' Bory. He named it ''Haplopteris'', from the Greek words for "simple" and "fern", in token of the simple fronds typical of the genus. He placed it in tribe Adiantaceae rather than Vittariaceae, although he recognized the similarity of the venation to ''Vittaria''. Presl transferred Bory's '' Pteris scolopendrina'' to the genus as the type species. Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the type species of ''Monogramma'' is embedded in ''Haplopteris''. Since the name ''Monogramma'' has taxonomic priority over ''Haplopteris'', a proposal to reject ''Monogramma'' in favor of ''Haplopteris'' has been put forth to conserve the name and comparatively stable circumscription of ''Haplopteris''. Thus far, the conservation of ''Haplopteris'' has been recommended by the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants.

Phylogeny

Schuettpelz ''et al.'' estimated the genus to contain about 40 species. The bulk of them were transferred out of '' Vittaria'' by Edmund H. Crane in 1998. 38 have currently been named. If the proposal to conserve ''Haplopteris'' against ''Monogramma'' is accepted, '' M. graminea'' will have to be transferred to ''Haplopteris'' to maintain the monophyly of the genus.

Distribution

About ten species are native to tropical Africa and the Indian Ocean, while the rest are found in tropical Asia and the Pacific.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5892136 Pteridaceae Epiphytes Fern genera