Vittaria | |
---|---|
Vittaria lineata | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Division: | Polypodiophyta |
Class: | Polypodiopsida |
Order: | Polypodiales |
Family: | Pteridaceae |
Subfamily: | Vittarioideae |
Genus: | Vittaria Sm. |
Type species | |
Vittaria lineata | |
Synonyms | |
|
Vittaria, the shoestring ferns,[1] is a genus of ferns in the Vittarioideae subfamily of the family Pteridaceae.[2] It had previously been placed in the family Vittariaceae,[3] but that family is no longer recognized.[4]
Vittaria consists of epiphytes, with simple, entire, narrowly linear fronds.[5] It comprises six species, five of which are native to the neotropics. Vittaria isoetifolia is native to tropical Africa and islands of the southwestern Indian Ocean.[6] Vittaria isoetifolia and Vittaria lineata are known, albeit rarely, in cultivation.[7]
Vittaria was named by James Edward Smith in 1793 [8] in Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences (Turin).[9] The generic name is derived from the Latin, vitta, meaning "a band or ribbon".[10]
In 1990, Vittaria was defined broadly and estimated to have between 50 and 80 species.[3] The genus is difficult to divide into species, and many of the species are only doubtfully distinct. In a 1997 revision of the vittarioid ferns, only 34 species were recognized in Vittaria sensu lato.[6] Twenty of these were transferred to Haplopteris and eight to Radiovittaria, leaving only six in Vittaria.[6]
Phylogeny of Vittaria[11][12] | |||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Other species include: