Nephrolepsis

Common name:         Macho Ferns   

• Also, Boston fern

Conservation status: various

Etymology:   

• Derived from the Greek nephros, kidney, and lepis, scale, in reference to the kidney-shaped indusia (sori covering)

Spores:                            

• x

Leaves:         

• The fronds are long and narrow, and once-pinnate

• In the case of one Bornean species,  fronds reach 9 m in length

Stem & branches: 

• x

Roots:         

• x

Habit:        

• x 

Habitat:   

• x 

Distribution:                  

• x

Species:                     

• World:            ~30 species;  it is the only genus in the family Nephrolepidaceae

• Australia:      S,    G

Additional notes:     

• It is placed in the Dryopteridaceae in some other classifications other than PPG 1 of 2016

• Phylogeny

  • The following cladogram for the suborder Polypodiineae (eupolypods I), based on the consensus cladogram in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), shows a likely phylogenetic relationship between Nephrolepidaceae and the other families of the clade.