Marattia is a small genus of primitive, large, fleshy eusporangiate ferns. It is the type genus of the family Marattiaceae, order Marattiales and class Marattiopsida.[1] Formerly considered to be a much larger genus, genetic analysis has shown that Marattia in the broad sense was paraphyletic, and subsequently the genera Ptisana and Eupodium were split off.[2][3] Except for one species in Hawaii, the genus is neotropical.
The plants are large and terrestrial, with more or less erect rhizomes and fronds being 2-5 times pinnate. Sporangia are fused into synangia, and spores are monolete.
Basal chromosome count is 2n=80. The type species is M. alata.
^Murdock, Andrew G. (2008). "Phylogeny of marattioid ferns (Marattiaceae) inferring a root in the absence of a closely related outgroup". American Journal of Botany. 95 (5): 626–641. doi:10.3732/ajb.2007308. PMID21632388.
^Murdock, Andrew G. (2008). "A taxonomic revision of the eusporangiate fern family Marattiaceae, with description of a new genus Ptisana". Taxon. 57 (3): 737–755. doi:10.1002/tax.573007.
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