Greek pellos - dark coloured; referring to the black stipes or stems of the fronds.
Rhizomes thin, covered with brown scales, mostly short-creeping. Sterile and fertile fronds similar. Fronds solitary or in groups, generally divided once (outline in this case narrowly lanceolate), rarely 2-3 times (outline triangular), evergreen, leathery, occasionally hairy or with dark scales; veins inconspicuous; stalk generally dark and shiny, not jointed to the rhizome. Segments with few if any lobes. Sori in linear bands along segment margins, protected by the reflexed margin (except sometimes at the base or tip of the segment).
The technical distinction between this genus and Cheilanthes is not always clear although Cheilanthes generally has much more finely divided segments.
c. 80 species, mostly from Southern Hemisphere, in S Africa and S America, Australia (3 species) and New Zealand.
Spores and division.
Sori restricted to the ends of veins although they are joined into a more or less continuous line at maturity.
Tryon (1957), Anthony (1984).
Source: (1995). Adiantaceae. In: . 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.