Family MARATTIACEAE
Description: Terrestrial ferns; rhizome short and erect, decumbent or prostrate, unbranched, stout and fleshy.
Fronds large, vernation circinate; stipe stout at the base with a pair of fleshy stipular expansions at the base; veins free or anastomosing.
Sporangia relatively large, sessile and arranged in a compact sorus, indusium absent, opening by a slit when mature.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 4 genera, c. 300 species, mainly tropical regions. Australia: 2 genera, 2 species, Qld, N.S.W.
Text by Peter G. Wilson
Taxon concept:
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