Marattia

Marattia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Subkingdom:	Tracheobionta (Vascular plants)
Division:	Pteridophyta
Class:	Marattiopsida
Order:	Marattiales
Family:	Marattiaceae
Genus:	Marattia Swartz
Species
Marattia alata Marattia cicutifolia Marattia laxa Marattia douglasii Marattia weinmanniifolia Marattia interposita Marattia excavata

Marattia is a small genus of primitive, large, fleshy ferns. It is the type genus of the family Marattiaceae. Formerly considered to be a much larger genus, recent genetic analysis by Murdock demonstrated its serious paraphyly, splitting off the genera Ptisana and Eupodium.^{[1] [2]}. Except for one species in Hawai'i, the genus is neotropical.

The plants are large and terrestrial, with more or less erect rhizomes and fronds being 2-5 times pinnate. Sporangia are fused into synangia, and spores are monolete.

Basal chromosome count is 2n=80. The type species is M. alata.

Species List

• Marattia alata Sw. -- Jamaica and Cuba
• Marattia cicutifolia Kaulf. -- southern Brazil
• Marattia douglasii (C. Presl) Baker -- pala, kapua ilio, or Hawai'i potato fern; Hawai'i
• Marattia excavata Underw. -- Mexico to Panama
• Marattia interposita Christ -- Guatemala to Panama
• Marattia laxa Kunze -- Mexico to Panama
• Marattia weinmanniifolia Liebm. -- southern Mexico to El Salvador

References

1. ^ Murdock, Andrew G. (2008). "Phylogeny of marattioid ferns (Marattiaceae) inferring a root in the absence of a closely related outgroup". American Journal of Botany 95 (5): 626–641. doi:10.3732/ajb.2007308. PMID 21632388. 
2. ^ Murdock, Andrew G. (2008). "A taxonomic revision of the eusporangiate fern family Marattiaceae, with description of a new genus Ptisana". Taxon 57 (3): 737–755.