Thelypteris Schmidel

Lady Fern

Greek thelus - female, pteris - fern.

Mostly short-lived and fast-growing terrestrial or swampland ferns. Rhizome usually long-creeping, thin, branched. Sterile and fertile fronds similar although fertile ones sometimes slightly smaller. Fronds tufted or spread along the rhizome, divided once. Blades soft. Segments deeply cut; veins free and often forked. Sori circular, scattered on the lower surface, black when mature. Indusia small and round to kidney-shaped but usually soon shed.

Thelypteris when considered in a broad sense consists of 800 or so species; however, it is generally divided into several genera: Australian botanists generally consider the genus in a narrow sense.

3 species world-wide (when considered in the narrowest sense) (1 in Australia).

Spores.

Rhizomes long-creeping; sori scattered or in poorly-defined rows; indusia round, black, soon shed.

Source: Spencer, R. (1995). Thelypteridaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 1, Ferns, conifers & their allies. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

Hero image
kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Polypodiopsida
order     Polypodiales
family      Thelypteridaceae
Higher taxa
Subordinate taxa
species        Thelypteris patens (Sw.) Small