Water Fern Family

Robert M. Lloyd

Plants short-lived, rooted or floating. Stems erect, bearing a few thin scales. Leaves dimorphic, erect to spreading, with adventitious bud initials or small plantlets along margins; proximal leaves sterile, herbaceous, venation reticulate, without included veinlets; distal leaves fertile, larger than sterile leaves; segments revolute, covering sporangia. Sporangia abaxial, thin-walled, with mixed development, bearing 0--71 indurate annulus cells. Spores yellow, 16 or 32 per sporangium, 70--150 µm diam. Gametophytes terrestrial, green, asymmetrically cordate.

Genus 1, species 3--4 (3 species in the flora): tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions worldwide.

SELECTED REFERENCES

Benedict, R. C. 1909. The genus Ceratopteris: A preliminary revision. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 36: 463--476. Lloyd, R. M. 1974. Systematics of the genus Ceratopteris Brongn. (Parkeriaceae) II. Taxonomy. Brittonia 26(2): 139--160.

Lower Taxon

• Ceratopteris Brongniart