Monographs Details:
Authority:
Proctor, George R. 1989. Ferns of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 53: 1-389.
Proctor, George R. 1989. Ferns of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 53: 1-389.
Family:
Cyatheaceae
Cyatheaceae
Description:
Species Description - Caudex usually erect (or in a few species decumbent or horizontal), more or less treelike, often with a dense growth of blackish adventitious roots toward the base, the apex clothed with scales characteristic for each species and often spiny. Fronds arching-pendent to ascending, moderate to very large in size, 1- or 2-pinnate-pinnatifid, often pubescent or scaly (or both); stipes thick, curved, and densely clothed with scales toward base, the scales more or less deciduous. Veins free or (rarely) the basal ones joined to form costal areoles. Sori dorsal on veins, or else arising from vein axils; indusium present or absent; if present, subtending the soms and various in size and shape, sometimes partially or wholly enclosing the sporangia, or else sometimes reduced to a mere scale; filamentous paraphyses often present. Sporangia b o m e on an elevated receptacle; pedicel of sporangium short, consisting of four rows of cells; spores variously echinate, mgose, granulate, ridged, crested, or porose, always trilete. Chromosomes: n = 69.
Species Description - Caudex usually erect (or in a few species decumbent or horizontal), more or less treelike, often with a dense growth of blackish adventitious roots toward the base, the apex clothed with scales characteristic for each species and often spiny. Fronds arching-pendent to ascending, moderate to very large in size, 1- or 2-pinnate-pinnatifid, often pubescent or scaly (or both); stipes thick, curved, and densely clothed with scales toward base, the scales more or less deciduous. Veins free or (rarely) the basal ones joined to form costal areoles. Sori dorsal on veins, or else arising from vein axils; indusium present or absent; if present, subtending the soms and various in size and shape, sometimes partially or wholly enclosing the sporangia, or else sometimes reduced to a mere scale; filamentous paraphyses often present. Sporangia b o m e on an elevated receptacle; pedicel of sporangium short, consisting of four rows of cells; spores variously echinate, mgose, granulate, ridged, crested, or porose, always trilete. Chromosomes: n = 69.
Discussion:
Type Species. Cyathea arborea (Linnaeus) J. E. Smith, based on Polypodium arboreum Linnaeus of the West Indies.
A large and complex genus of perhaps 600 species, about evenly divided between the New World and Old World tropics. Puerto Rico is here credited with 20 species and hybrids, classified in several subgenera. The generic name is derived from the Greek kyathos, wine cup; this alludes to the cuplike shape of the indusium in the type species.