Polypodium
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Polypodiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Genus Description - Small to large, epiphytic or epilithic ferns of varied habit. Rhizomes short- to long-creeping, often slender, more or less clothed with scales or sometimes nearly naked. Fronds articulate to the rhizome, monomorphic or somewhat dimorphic, mostly stipitate, glabrous or hairy, and with or without scales; blades simple to pinnatisect, sometimes pectinate, usually with entire margins; veins branched, free or variously reticulate, the areoles with or without included free veinlets. Sori round or oval (rarely somewhat linear), mostly terminal on free veinlets, not marginal, usually in one or more regular rows; indusium lacking; paraphyses present or absent; sporangia with annulus of 12-18 cells; spores ellipsoid, monolete, the surface usually verrucose to rugose or tuberculate, or in a few cases smooth with a minute granular deposit.
Distribution and Ecology - A genus of about 225 species with cosmopolitan distribution. The genus is broadly circumscribed here; other recent floras have recognized the segregate genera Pleopeltis, Microgramma, Campyloneurum for some of our taxa.