Description: Epiphytic, rarely terrestrial, ferns; rhizome ± erect to short-creeping, covered with clathrate scales, roots few, spongy.
Fronds usually uniform; stipe short; lamina entire, glabrous, veins anastomosing.
Sori ± sunken, a single long sorus or a line of sori on each side of the frond, marginal or submarginal, indusium absent.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 50 species, tropical regions. Australia: 2 species (native).
Both species of Vittaria known from New South Wales have recenty been proposed as members of the genus Haplopteris see PPG 1 and Field (2020). PlantNet currently follows the Australian Plant Census, where that change has not yet been accepted.
Text by Peter G. Wilson updated by Matt A.M. Renner (6 May 2020)
Taxon concept: Field AR (2020) Classification and typification of Australian lycophytes and ferns based on Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification PPG 1. Australian Systematic Botany 33, 1-102. https://www.publish.csiro.au/SB/SB18011
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Terminal cells of paraphyses approximately as long as wide. Rhizome scales uniformly clathrate, marginal cell walls thickened and pigmented to the same degree as medial cell walls | Vittaria elongata |
| Terminal cells of paraphyses twice or three times as long as wide. Rhizome scales with marginal cell walls thinner and less intensely pigmented than medial cells | Vittaria ensiformis |
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