Gleicheniaceae

Gleicheniaceae, the forking fern family (order Gleicheniales), containing 6 genera and about 125 species. This relatively primitive family has a long fossil record dating back to the Jurassic Period (201.3 million to 145.0 million years ago). The extant genera are Gleichenella (1 species), Strematopteris (1 species), Dicranopteris (12 species), Diplopterigyium (25 species), Gleichenia (11 species), and Sticherus (about 80 species). The group is most diverse in the Paleotropics but is also well represented in warmer regions of the New World. Many of the species are colonizers of open or disturbed areas and are commonly seen along road banks in the tropics.

The leaves of most Gleicheniaceae are atypical for ferns in that they have a peculiar pattern of development. The rachis (main axis) of the lamina (leaf blade) forks at all or most nodes, with a “dormant bud” between the branches that appears as a short fiddlehead. This indeterminate pattern of leaf growth and branching results in extremely long leaves that creep and climb over the ground and other vegetation, forming large masses of overlapping leaves. The sporangia (spore-producing structures) are clustered into small round naked sori along the secondary veins. Both bean-shaped (bilateral) and globose (terahedral) spores occur in the family.