I.
Polypodiopsida (Licopsida)
A. Order: Osmundales
a) Family: Osmundaceae
1. Genus: Osmunda
Stem anatomy distinctive, an ectopholic,
siphonostele, with a ring of discrete xylem
Stipules at base of petioles, leaves dimorphic or with
fertile portions dissimilar to sterile
Sporangia large, 128-512spores, opening by an apical
slit, annulus lateral
Spores green, subglobose, trilete, Gametophyte large,
green, cordate, surficial
x=22
Osmunda japonica
Osmunda claytoniana
Osmunda regalis
Stem TS
Osmunda regalis
Stem TS
Osmunda regalis
4. Polypodiopsida
F. Order: Hymenophyllales
1. Family: Hymenophyllaceae
1. Rhizomes slender, creeping, wiry, or sometimes erect and stouter,
protostelic;
2. Vernation circinate;
3. Blades one cell thick between veins (a few exceptions);
4. Stomata lacking; cuticles lacking or highly reduced;
5. Scales usually lacking on blades, indument sometimes of hairs;
6. Sori marginal, indusia conical (campanulate), tubular, or clam-shaped
(bivalvate), with receptacles (at least in trichomanoid genera) usually
elongate, protruding from the involucres;
7. Sporangia maturing graduately in basipetal fashion, each with an
uninterrupted, oblique annulus;
8. Spores green, globose, trilete;
9. Gametophytes filamentous or ribbon-like, often reproducing by
fragmentation or production of gemmae; x = 11, 12, 18, 28, 32, 33, 34, 36,
and perhaps others.
Hymenophyllum tunbrigense
4. Polypodiopsida
G. Order: Gleicheniales
1. Family: Gleicheniaceae
Characters:
Root steles with 3–5 protoxylem poles;
Antheridia with 6–12 narrow, twisted or curved cells in walls.
Gleichenia dicarpa
Characteristics
1. Rhizomes with a “vitalized” protostele, or rarely
solenostele;
2. Leaves indeterminate, blades pseudodichotomously
forked (except Stromatopteris); veins free;
3. Sori abaxial, not marginal, with 5–15 sporangia,
each with a transverse oblique annulus, exindusiate,
round, with 128–800 spores;
4. Sporangia maturing simultaneously within sori;
5. Spores globose-tetrahedral or bilateral;
6. Gametophytes green, surficial, with club-shaped
hairs; x=22, 34, 39, 43, 56.
4. Polypodiopsida
H. Order: Schizaeales
1. Family: Schizaeaceae
Characters:
1. Two genera (Actinostachys, Schizaea). Terrestrial, pantropical.
2. Blades simple (linear) or fan-shaped, variously cleft and with dichotomous
free veins; sporangia on marginal, elaminate, branched or unbranched
projections at blade tips, not in discrete sori, exindusiate;
3. Spores bilateral, monolete, 128–256 per sporangium;
4. Gametophytes green and filamentous (Schizaea), or subterranean and
nongreen, tuberous (Actinostachys), and non-green;
5. A puzzling array of base chromosome numbers: x = 77, 94, 103.
Schizaea
4. Polypodiopsida
I. Order: Salviniales
1. Family: Marsiliaceae
2. Family: Salviniaceae
Characters:
Fertile- sterile leaf blade differentiation;
Stems usually long-creeping, slender, often bearing hairs, veins
anastomosing; Aerenchyma tissue often present in roots, shoots,
and petioles;
Annulus absent; plants heterosporous, spores with endosporous
germination; monomegaspory; gametophytes reduced.
Azolla
Salvinia
4. Polypodiopsida
J. Order: Cyatheales Tree ferns
Characters: some of the species have trunk-like stems
but others have creeping rhizomes
some have only hairs on the stems and blades, others have
scales;
sori are abaxial or marginal, either indusiate or exindusiate;
spores are globose or tetrahedral-globose, with a trilete scar;
gametophytes green, cordate.
Diksonia antarctica
Sori in Diksonia
4. Polypodiopsida
J. Order: Polypodiales
Characters: Indusia laterally or centrally attached (indusia lost in
many lineages); sporangial stalks 1–3 cells thick, often
long; sporangial maturation mixed; sporangia each with
a vertical annulus interrupted by the stalk and stomium;
gametophytes green, usually cordate (sometimes ribbonshaped
in some epiphytes), surficial.
Polypodium vulgaris
