Marattiopsida
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| Missing image Angiopteris.evecta1web.jpg Mule's-foot fern (Angiopteris evecta) | ||||||
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The Marattiales are basal ferns that are quite different from many plants familiar to people in temperate zones. Many of them have massive, fleshy rootstocks and the largest known fronds of any fern. In this group, such fronds are found in the genus Angiopteris, native to Australasia, Madagascar and Oceania. These fronds may be up to 7.5 meters (25 feet) long. In Jamaica the species Angiopteris evecta is widely naturalized and is registered as an invasive species. The plant was cultivated in the Castleton Gardens in 1860 and was able to distribute itself from there.
Another East-Asian genus is Christensenia, a peculiar fern with fronds resembling a horse chestnut leaf. That is why the species is called Christensenia aesculifolia, meaning Christensen's chestnut-leaf. Christensen was a famous Swedish fern botanist.
This plant order also contains the King Fern, Marattia salicina, known in Maori as Para. Sometimes called the Potatoe Fern, this is a large Australasian fern with an edible fleshy rhizome that is used as a food source by some indigenous peoples. The genus Marattia can be found in all tropical regions, usually in higher elevations.
The usually smaller plants of genus Danaea are endemic to the Neotropics. they have sunken synangia and opposite pinnae.
Several other genera are known in the Marattiaceae, namely: Archangiopteris, Macroglossum, Protangiopteris, and Protomarattia. These are all synonyms to Angiopteris.
According to recent molecular studies it appears that these eusporangiate ferns are a sister group to the horsetails (Equisetaceae).