BiologyBase: Vascular Plant Families

BiologyBase
Base Museum Life Sciences Dept

The Vascular Plant Families

By Robert B. Hole, Jr.
This Checklist is after Walters and Keil (who follow Cronquist 1981). Notes are modified from lecture notes from an Advanced Plant Taxonomy course at Mississippi State University taught by Dr. Sydney McDaniel and other sources. Any errors are solely my responsibility, NOT my instructors.

Click on the Family name to get a list of California Plants in that Family (if any).

class: Psilotopsida
order: Psilotales     order notes:
family: Psilotaceae     family notes: Cryptogams, gametophytes are cylindrical and subteranian and are saprophytes of a mycorhizal fugus. Two genera, 4-8 species. The most primitive of living vascular plants. Genera include Psilotum with 2 sp (P. nudum and P. complanatum).
English name: Whisk Ferns
subfamily:       subfamily notes:
range includes:

class: Equisetopsida
order: Equisetales     order notes:
family: Equisetaceae     family notes: One living genus in Class: Equisetum. Living in damp places. Extensive fossil record. Incorporate silica ("glass") into cell walls.
English name: Horsetails, Scouring Rushes
subfamily:       subfamily notes:
range includes:       North America

class: Lycopodiopsida
order: Lycopodiales     order notes:
family: Lycopodiaceae     family notes: Five genera, about 450 species. Cosmopolitan.
English name: Club-mosses
subfamily:       subfamily notes:
range includes: Asia Africa South America    Eruope Australia Pacific

class: Isoetopsida
order: Selaginellales     order notes:
family: Selaginellaceae     family notes: One gensu (Selaginella), about 700 species. World wide range.
English name: Small Club-mosses
subfamily:       subfamily notes:
range includes: Asia Africa South America    Eruope Australia Pacific

class: Isoetopsida
order: Isoetales     order notes:
family: Isoetaceae     family notes: Two genera, about 71 species. Isoetes (quillworts) with 70 species is cosmopolitan. Sytlites, one species in Peruvian Andes. Mostly aquatic cryptogams.
English name: Quillworts
subfamily:       subfamily notes:
range includes: Asia Africa South America    Eruope Australia Pacific

class: Polypodiopsida
order: Ophiohlossales     order notes:
family: Ophioglossaceae     family notes: Four genera. Botrychium and Ophiglossum (Snake's tongues) are cosmopolitan. Helminthostachys is Indo-Malaysian, Rhizoglossum is S. African. Eusporangiate ferns.
English name: Grape-ferns
subfamily:       subfamily notes:
range includes: Asia Africa South America    Eruope Australia Pacific

class: Polypodiopsida
order: Marattiales     order notes:
family: Marattiaceae     family notes: Seven genera, 100 species, humid tropics and warm regions. Carboniferous fossil record.
English name:
subfamily:       subfamily notes:
range includes: Africa South America

class: Polypodiopsida
order: Polypodiales     order notes:
family: Osmundaceae     family notes: Three genera, about 18 species, found throughout most of world.
English name: Cinnamon Ferns
subfamily:       subfamily notes:
range includes: Asia Africa South America    Eruope Australia Pacific

class: Polypodiopsida
order: Polypodiales     order notes:
family: Schizaeaceae     family notes: Four genera, 150 species, mostly tropical, extending into temperate America.
English name: Climbing Ferns
subfamily:       subfamily notes:
range includes: Asia Africa South America

class: Polypodiopsida
order: Polypodiales     order notes:
family: Gleicheniaceae     family notes: Four genera, about 140 species. Wide tropical distribution. Carboniferous fossil record.
English name:
subfamily:       subfamily notes:
range includes: Asia Africa South America       Australia

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