Lindsaea

• Authority

  Mickel, John T. & Beitel, Joseph M. 1988. Pteridophyte Flora of Oaxaca, Mexico. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 46: 1-580.

• Family

  Lindsaeaceae

• Scientific Name

  Lindsaea

• Description

  Genus Description - Terrestrial, rarely epipetric or (not in ours) epiphytic; rhizome long- to short-creeping, scaly fronds small to medium-sized, monomorphic; stipe glabrous, stramineous to castaneous, often quadrangular; blade (simple-) 1-2(-3) times pinnate, anadromous; segments generally dimidiate, membranous to chartaceous; veins free (in ours), rarely netted without included veinlets; sori submarginal in a continuous or interrupted line, subtended by a margin-facing indusium, paraphyses generally present; spores tetrahedral (in ours), rarely monolete.

• Discussion

  Type: Lindsaea trapeziformis Dryander [=Lindsaea lancea (Linnaeus) Beddome var. lancea]. For additional synonymy, see Kramer (1957). Lindsaea is a genus of 150 species, about 1/3 from American tropics, but mostly of Southeast Asia and adjacent Pacific area. It is most closely allied to Odontosoria, but their relationship to the rest of the ferns is obscure-perhaps it is to the dennstaedtioid ferns but not closely. It is probably an ancient genus, judging from diverse chromosome numbers (x = 34, 41, 47, 50), protostele, scale-hair transitions, and broad distribution. At low to middle elevations, in wet forests, it often grows with Adiantum, with which it is superficially confused, and mixed collections frequently result. Lindsaea resembles Adiantum in blade dissection, segment shape and marginal sori, but is distinct in the paler axes and the sori facing acroscopically. The Oaxacan species are all widespread. References: Kramer, K. U. 1957. A revision of the genus Lindsaea in the New World with notes of allied genera. Acta Bot. Neerl. 6: 97-290; Kramer, K. U. 1971. Lindsaea group. Flora Malesiana (2)1: 177-254.