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Australian ferns & fern allies |
 ParkeriaceaeIncl. Ceratopteridaceae Erect ferns of shallow waters and swamps; rhizome short, fleshy, radial, with many vascular strands. Fronds with a long spongy stipe, with numerous longitudinal air canals and many vascular bundles in a single ring, the lamina glabrous, dimorphic, the sterile frond 2 - 3-pinnatifid with broad, thin spreading segments, the fertile fronds erect with narrower, linear, coarser segments; the venation regularly reticulate without free included veinlets. Sporangia solitary, scattered along the veins of the contracted fertile segments, protected by the reflexed edge of the lamina; annulus broad and irregular, or lacking; spores trilete. DistributionA pantropical family of a single genus with 4 species. In areasof permanent or semipermanent water. Ceratopteris thalictroides is the sole species in Papuasia. LiteratureBenedict, R.C. 1909. The genus Ceratopteris: a preliminary revision. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 36: 463 - 476. Croft, J.R. 1985. Parkeriaceae. In Leach, G.J. & Osborne, P.L., Fresh water plants of Papua New Guinea. Univ. P.N.G., Port Moresby. pp. 54 - 56. Johns, R.J. & Bellamy, A. 1979. Ferns and fern allies of Papua New Guinea. Part two: the Parkeriaceae. Pp. 11.1 - 11.5 (published by P.N.G. Office of Forests). Johnson, A. 1961. The genus Ceratopteris in Malaya. Gard. Bull. Sing. 18: 76 - 81. Lloyd, R.M. 1972. Species delimitation in the genus Ceratopteris (Parkeriaceae. Amer. J. Bot. 59: 676. Lloyd, R.M. 1974. Systematics of the genus Ceratopteris Brongn. (Parkeriaceae) II. Taxonomy. Brittonia 26: 139 - 160, f. 1-9. Genera
NoteThis family is included with the Hemionitidaceae, Sinopteridaceae and Cryptogrammitaceae in an enlarged Adiantaceae in some treatments. Australian National Herbarium page Updated November 1999 by Jim Croft (jrc@anbg.gov.au)  |
