Athyriaceae

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title: "Athyriaceae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["athyriaceae", "fern-families"] description: "Family of ferns" topic_path: "general/athyriaceae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athyriaceae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of ferns ::

| image = Illustration Athyrium filix-femina0.jpg | image_caption = Athyrium filix-femina | taxon = Athyriaceae | authority = Alston | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = See text. | type_genus= Athyrium

The Athyriaceae (ladyferns and allies) are a family of terrestrial ferns in the order Polypodiales. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), the family is placed in the suborder Aspleniineae, and includes two genera. Alternatively, it may be treated as the subfamily ** Athyrioideae** of a very broadly defined family Aspleniaceae. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution.

Description

Species of the Athyriaceae are terrestrial or lithophytic, less commonly aquatic. They grow from various kinds of rhizome: short or long, creeping or erect, branched or not. The distribution and evolution of characters in the family is complex, and the genera have few constant features by which they can be identified. The sporangia have stalks two or three cells wide in the middle, and contain brown monolete spores.

Taxonomy

Earlier classifications

The family was first created by Arthur H.G. Alston in 1956. It has had a varied history. In 2014, Christenhusz and Chase submerged it as the subfamily Athyrioideae within the family Aspleniaceae, The PPG I classification of 2016 restored it to family status.

Athyriaceae is a member of the eupolypods II clade (now the suborder Aspleniineae), in the order Polypodiales. It is related to other families in the clade as in the following cladogram:

The Athyriaceae in the past included Cystopteris and Gymnocarpium (now part of Dennstaedtiaceae). The family has been subsumed in the family Woodsiaceae, but a Woodsiaceae defined in this way may be paraphyletic if it omits the Onocleaceae and Blechnaceae (as of 2006, the evidence was not clear).

Genera

As circumscribed in PPG I, Athyriacae contains the following genera.

• Athyrium Roth (including Anisocampium and Cornopteris Nakai)
• Deparia Hook. & Grev.
• Diplazium Sw.

, the Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World recognizes three further genera, which other sources include in Athyrium:

• Anisocampium C.Presl
• Cornopteris Nakai
• Pseudathyrium Newman

The genera have the following phylogenetic relationships:

::data[format=table]

PPG I	Fern Tree of Life
	1={{clade
::

Distribution and habitat

Athyriaceae has a worldwide distribution, particularly the genus Athyrium. Most species of Athyriaceae are medium-sized terrestrial ferns, growing in the understorey below trees and shrubs.

References

References

1. "''Athyriaceae'' Alston". Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
2. (2022). "An Open and Continuously Updated Fern Tree of Life". Frontiers in Plant Science.
3. (2022). "Tree viewer: interactive visualization of FTOL".
4. (November 2019). "Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World".
5. (2014). "Trends and concepts in fern classification". [[Annals of Botany]].
6. (2011). "Towards Resolving the Complete Fern Tree of Life". PLOS ONE.
7. (2011). "Molecular phylogeny and taxonomy of the fern genus ''Anisocampium'' (Athyriaceae)". [[Taxon (journal).
8. "''Pseudathyrium'' Newman". Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
9. "''Athyrium'' Roth". Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
10. PPG I. (2016). "A community-derived classification for extant lycophytes and ferns". Journal of Systematics and Evolution.
11. (2012). "Overcoming Deep Roots, Fast Rates, and Short Internodes to Resolve the Ancient Rapid Radiation of Eupolypod II Ferns". Systematic Biology.
12. (2012). "A revised family–level classification for eupolypod II ferns (Polypodiidae: Polypodiales)". Taxon.
13. (2007). "Fern phylogeny inferred from 400 leptosporangiate species and three plastid genes". [[Taxon (journal).
14. (2006). "A classification for extant ferns". Taxon.

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