Overview
Taxonomy
The Order Cyatheales is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Family (8): Cibotiaceae · Culcitaceae · Cyatheaceae · Dicksoniaceae · Loxomataceae · Metaxyaceae · Plagiogyriaceae · Thyrsopteridaceae
- Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 2,010 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in the Order Cyatheales.
Families
Cibotiaceae
Cibotium (from the Greek kibootion, meaning chest or box) is a genus of eleven species of tropical tree fern?subject to much confusion and revision?distributed fairly narrowly in Hawaii (four species, plus a hybrid, collectively known as hapu?u), Southeast Asia (five species), and the cloud forests of Central America and Mexico (two species). Some of the species currently listed in the literature seem to be synonyms or local-variant subspecies. , from Hawai?i, is the most frequently encountered Cibotium species in the horticultural trade, together with its sibling species Cibotium chamissoi and the potentially huge Cibotium menziesii. The remaining Hawaiian Cibotium, C. nealiae, is a 1-metre (3.3 ft) dwarf variety, restricted to the island of Kaua?i that is never seen in the horticultural trade. Precise identification of Cibotium species is difficult, although all have shiny and rather waxy fronds when viewed from above, with varying degrees of powdery-pale blush when seen from underneath. The natural habitat of Cibotium is among the dripping trees and stream gulleys of the rainforests on Hawai?i's windward volcanic slopes. [more]
Culcitaceae
Culcitaceae is a family of ferns within the order Cyatheales. An example genus within the family is Culcita. [more]
Cyatheaceae
The Cyatheaceae is the scaly tree fern family and includes the world's tallest tree ferns, which reach heights up to 20 m. They are also very ancient plants, appearing in the fossil record in the late Jurassic, though the modern genera likely appeared in the Tertiary. Cyatheaceae is the largest family of tree ferns, including about 500 species. Cyatheaceae and Dicksoniaceae, together with Metaxyaceae and Cibotiaceae, are a monophyletic group and constitute the "core tree ferns." Cyatheaceae are leptosporangiate ferns, the most familiar group of monilophytes. [more]
Dicksoniaceae
The Dicksoniaceae is a family of tropical, subtropical and warm temperate ferns. Most of the 5-6 genera in the family are terrestrial ferns or have very short trunks compared to tree ferns of the family Cyatheaceae. However, some of the larger species can reach several metres in height. A number of others are epiphytes. They are found mostly in tropical regions in the Southern Hemisphere, as far south as southern New Zealand. [more]
Loxomataceae
Metaxyaceae
Plagiogyriaceae
Plagiogyria is a genus of fern in family Plagiogyriaceae. Ferns of this genus present two kind of fronds, the fertile ones longer than the sterile. These ferns are found on forest soils in mountainous areas of tropical and subtropical regions, mostly in Asia - but also in the Americas. [more]
Thyrsopteridaceae
At least 4 species and subspecies belong to the Family Thyrsopteridaceae.
More info about the Family Thyrsopteridaceae may be found here.
Sources
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