''Metaxya'' is a

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

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 ...

fern 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 ...

s in the order

Cyatheales The order Cyatheales, which includes most tree ferns, is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic order of the fern class, Polypodiopsida. No clear morphology (biology), morphological features characterize all of the Cyatheales, but DNA sequence data indi ...

. It is the only genus in the family Metaxyaceae in the

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

classification of 2016 (PPG I). Alternatively, the genus may be placed in the subfamily Metaxyoideae of a more broadly defined family

Cyatheaceae The Cyatheaceae are a family of ferns, the scaly tree ferns, one of eight families in the order Cyatheales in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). Alternatively, the family may defined much more broadly (Cyatheaceae ...

, the family placement used in ''

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

'' . The species of the genus are characterized by large fronds that approach 8 ft (2.5 m) in length.

Species

, ''

'' accepted the following species:

Phylogeny

Phylogeny of ''Metaxya''

References

External links

* * Cyatheales Fern genera {{Cyatheales-stub