Notholaena

{{Short description|Genus of ferns}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Notholaena standleyi.jpg | image_caption = ''Notholaena standleyi'' | taxon = Notholaena | authority = R.Br. | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text. }}

'''''Notholaena''''' is a genus of ferns known as '''cloak ferns'''<ref>{{PLANTS|id=NOTHO|taxon=Notholaena|accessdate=20 July 2015}}</ref> in the family Pteridaceae.<ref name=Christenhusz-2011/> Species of this genus are mostly epipetric (growing on rock) or occurring in coarse, gravelly soils, and are most abundant and diverse in the mountain ranges of warm arid or semiarid regions. They typically have a creeping or erect rhizome and leaves that are pinnatifid to pinnate-pinnatifid with marginal sori protected by a false indusium formed from the reflexed margin of the leaf. Members of the genus ''Notholaena'' also has a coating of whitish or yellowish farina (a powdery secretion of lipophilic exudates), primarily on the abaxial (lower) surface of the leaves and along the margin of prothallium of gametophytes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Anne K. |last2=Rothfels |first2=Carl J. |last3=Windham |first3=Michael D. |authorlink3=Michael D. Windham |last4=Pryer |first4=Kathleen M. |date=2012 |title=Unique expression of a sporophytic character on the gametophytes of notholaenid ferns (Pteridaceae) |url=https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3732/ajb.1200049 |journal=American Journal of Botany |language=en |volume=99 |issue=6 |pages=1118–1124 |doi=10.3732/ajb.1200049 |pmid=22542903 |bibcode=2012AmJB...99.1118J |issn=1537-2197|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Members of the related genera including ''Aleuritopteris'', ''Argyrochosma, Pentagramma'', as well as several genera and species in other subfamilies of Pteridaceae, also exhibit farina on the lower leaf surface.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wollenweber |first1=Eckhard |last2=Schneider |first2=Harald |date=2000-10-01 |title=Lipophilic exudates of Pteridaceae – chemistry and chemotaxonomy |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0305197899001180 |journal=Biochemical Systematics and Ecology |volume=28 |issue=8 |pages=751–777 |doi=10.1016/S0305-1978(99)00118-0 |pmid=10856634 |bibcode=2000BioSE..28..751W |issn=0305-1978|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Meanwhile, gametophytic farina is almost exclusively observed in Notholaena, with only occasional spontaneous occurrences reported in ''Argyrochosma''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gabriel y Galán |first1=Jose María |last2=Prada |first2=Carmen |date=July 2012 |title=Farina Production by Gametophytes of Argyrochosma nivea (Poir.) Windham (Pteridaceae) and its Implications for Cheilanthoid Phylogeny |url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1640/0002-8444-102.3.191 |journal=American Fern Journal |language=en |volume=102 |issue=3 |pages=191–197 |doi=10.1640/0002-8444-102.3.191 |bibcode=2012AmFJ..102..191G |issn=0002-8444}}</ref> and ''Aleuritopteris''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=刘贤 |first1=杨文利 |last2=LIU Xian |first2=YANG Wen-li |date=2015-04-02 |title=Farina Observation in Gametophytes of Aleuritopteris squamosa (Pteridaceae), with Comments on Its Phylogenetic Significance |url=http://jtsb.ijournals.cn/jtsb_en/article/abstract/3343?st=article_issue |journal=Journal of Tropical and Subtropical Botany |language=en |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=160–166 |doi=10.11926/j.issn.1005-3395.2015.02.007 |doi-broken-date=29 July 2025 |issn=1005-3395}}</ref>

The similar genus ''Argyrochosma'' also has farinose leaves, but in that genus the ultimate segments of the leaves have entire margins and are distinctly stalked, whereas in ''Notholaena'' the ultimate segments are usually lobed or pinnatifid and sessile or subsessile. ''Notholaena'' has in the past been used as a "catch-all" genus for a wide variety of species that did not fit well in other arid fern genera but it has more recently been defined in a much narrower sense, making the genus much more morphologically and evolutionarily coherent. The genera ''Argyrochosma'' and ''Astrolepis'' were recently segregated from ''Notholaena'', and other former members of ''Notholaena'' are now in the genus ''Cheilanthes''.

==Etymology== The genus was first described in 1810 by Robert Brown.{{sfn|Brown|1810|p=145}} The name is derived from the Greek νόθος (''nothos''), "false", and χλαῖνα (''chlaena''), "cloak".{{sfn|Quattrocchi|2019|p=2642}} This refers to the fact that the sori are not covered by well-differentiated tissue of the leaf margin.{{sfn|Clute|1901|pp=287}}

Members of the genus ''Notholaena'' as historically defined, are commonly known as "cloak ferns".{{sfn|Clute|1901|pp=287}}

== Species == {{As of|2025|July}}, the ''Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World'' recognized the following thirty-four species:<ref name=CFLW/> {{Div col|colwidth=24em}} *''Notholaena affinis'' (Mett.) T.Moore *''Notholaena aliena'' Maxon *''Notholaena aschenborniana'' Klotzsch *''Notholaena aurantiaca'' Eaton *''Notholaena aureolina'' Yatsk. & Arbeláez *''Notholaena brachycaulis'' Mickel *''Notholaena brachypus'' (Kunze) J.Sm. *''Notholaena brevistipes'' Mickel *''Notholaena bryopoda'' Maxon *''Notholaena californica'' D.C.Eaton *''Notholaena candida'' (M.Martens & Galeotti) Hook. *''Notholaena cubensis'' Weath. ex R.M.Tryon *''Notholaena ekmanii'' Maxon *''Notholaena galapagensis'' Weath. & Svenson ex Svenson *''Notholaena galeottii'' Fée *''Notholaena grayi'' Davenp. *''Notholaena greggii'' (Mett. ex Kuhn) Maxon *''Notholaena jacalensis'' Pray *''Notholaena jaliscana'' Yatsk. & Arbeláez *''Notholaena lemmonii'' D.C.Eaton *''Notholaena leonina'' Maxon *''Notholaena meridionalis'' Mickel *''Notholaena montielae'' Yatsk. & Arbeláez *''Notholaena neglecta'' Maxon *''Notholaena ochracea'' (Hook.) Yatsk. & Arbeláez *''Notholaena revoluta'' A.Rojas *''Notholaena rigida'' Davenp. *''Notholaena rosei'' Maxon *''Notholaena schaffneri'' (E.Fourn.) Underw. *''Notholaena solitaria'' R.M.Tryon *''Notholaena standleyi'' (Kümmerle) Maxon *''Notholaena sulphurea'' (Cav.) J.Sm. *''Notholaena trichomanoides'' (L.) R.Br. *''Notholaena weatherbiana'' R.M.Tryon {{Div col end}}

== References == {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=CFLW>{{cite WF |taxon=Notholaena |access-date=2025-07-15}}</ref>

<ref name=Christenhusz-2011>{{cite journal | first1=Maarten J. M. | last1=Christenhusz |authorlink1=Maarten J. M. Christenhusz | first2=Xian-Chun | last2=Zhang | first3=Harald | last3=Schneider | title=A linear sequence of extant families and genera of lycophytes and ferns | journal=Phytotaxa | volume=19 | pages=7–54 | date=18 February 2011 | doi=10.11646/phytotaxa.19.1.2 | bibcode=2011Phytx..19....7C | url=http://www.mapress.com/phytotaxa/content/2011/f/pt00019p054.pdf | issn=1179-3163}}</ref> }}

==Sources== *{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773) |title=Prodromus floræ Novæ Hollandiæ et Insulæ Van-Diemen |year=1810 |publisher=R. Taylor et socii |location=London |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36315468}} *{{cite book | last=Clute | first=Willard N. | author-link=Willard Nelson Clute | title=Our Ferns in Their Haunts | url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924089416774 | publisher=Frederick A. Stokes Co. | location=New York | year=1901}} *{{cite book |last=Quattrocchi |first=Umberto |title=CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names |year=2019 |volume=III |publisher=CRC Press |location=Boca Raton, Florida |isbn=978-0-3674-4751-9}}

==External links== *[http://tolweb.org/notholaenids/133570 Tree of Life: notholaenids]

Category:Notholaena Category:Fern genera