Todea

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information

Wikipedia links:       Monilophytes > Osmundales > Osmundaceae > Todea

Other links:    

Species:   T barbara

Plant  information

Common name:         . . .  

Conservation status: . . .

Etymology:   

• Named in honour of Heinrich Julius Tode (1733–1797), German botanist and clergyman, author of Fungi Mecklenburgenses Selecti (1790–1791)

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Spores:                            

• Species in the genus Todea, as Leptopteris, are distinct from other in Osmundaceae in that sporangia are born on laminar pinnules

• Many large sporangia are located on the bottoms of the leaves and are not arranged in sori or covered by an indusium

Leaves:         

• Coarse, pinnate leaves

Stem & branches: 

• Sub-erect stem 

Roots:         

Habit:        

Habitat:   

Distribution:                  

• Eastern Australia

Species:                     

• World:           2

• Australia:     1

Additional notes:     

• Species

  • Only two extant species are currently recognised

    • Todea barbara L., known as the king fern, is native to South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia while 

    • Todea papuana H. is known only from Papua New Guinea

• So far the fossil record of the genus Todea consists only of:

  • the permineralized rhizome Todea tidwellii from the Lower Cretaceous of Vancouver Island, Canada 

  • the species Todea amissa, known from the Eocene of Patagonia, Argentina

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todea (2023)