Belongs within: Leptosporangiatae.
The Cyatheaceae are the scaly tree ferns, distinguished by the presence of scales on the stems and petioles. Most species are arborescent and may reach up to 20 m in height. Major genera may be distinguished by scale morphology: scales of Alsophila possess an apical seta whereas those of Cyathea do not (Korall et al. 2007). Hymenophyllopsis is a genus of small, delicate ferns found on South American tepuis that lacks the arborescent habit of other Cyatheaceae.
<==Cyatheaceae [Cyatheeae]
| i. s.: Cnemidaria horridaSL05
| CyathocaulisSP09
| |--C. naktongensis Ogura 1927C93
| `--C. yabeiSP09
| Cibotiocaulis tateiwae Ogura 1927C93
| Gymnosphaera Blume 1828KC01
| KuylisporitesSP09
|--SphaeropterisSP09
| | i. s.: ‘Cyathea’ cooperiH90 [=Alsophila cooperiB78]
| | ‘Cyathea’ leichhardtianaH90 (see below for synonymy)
| |--S. celebicaSP09
| `--+--+--S. capitataSP09
| | `--S. megalosporaSP09
| `--+--S. horridaSP09
| `--+--S. medullaris Bernh. 1801SP09, A61 (see below for synonymy)
| `--S. robustaSP09
`--+--+--‘Alsophila’ capensisSP09
| `--+--‘Alsophila’ ramispinaSP09
| `--‘Alsophila’ salviniiSP09
`--+--Alsophila Br. 1810SP09, A61
| | i. s.: A. andersoniT-W89
| | A. commutataT-W89
| | A. glabraT-W89
| | A. glaucaT-W89
| | A. hotteanaJ87
| | A. kingiT-W89
| | A. latebrosaT-W89
| | A. loddigesiiB78
| | A. lunulataC06
| | A. mildbraediiPB27
| | A. minorJ87
| | A. obscuraT-W89
| | A. pruinataL54
| | A. rebeccaeB78
| | A. robertsianaB78
| | A. trichodesmaT-W89
| | A. woodwardioides [=Nephelea woodwardioides]J87
| |--+--A. dregeiSP09
| | `--+--A. bryophilaSP09
| | `--A. cuspidataSP09
| `--+--+--A. colensoi Hooker 1854SP09, A61 [=Cyathea colensoi (Hooker) Domin 1929A61]
| | `--A. foersteriSP09
| `--+--A. hooglandiiSP09
| `--A. stelligeraSP09
`--Cyathea Smith 1793 [incl. Hemitelia Br. 1810]A61
| i. s.: C. arachnoideaB78
| C. arboreaSL05 [=Polypodium arboreumV97]
| C. atroxC78
| C. australisH90 [=Alsophila australisT86; incl. A. excelsaB78]
| |--C. a. var. australisB78
| `--‘Alsophila’ a. var. nigresensB78
| C. brevipinnaB78
| C. brunonisT-W89
| C. chinensis Copel. 1909 (see below for synonymy)I88
| C. cunninghamii Hook. f. in Hook. 1854H90, A61
| C. dealbata (Forst. f.) Swartz 1801 (see below for synonymy)A61
| C. discolor Bory de Saint-Vincent 1828BS-V28
| C. engleriPB27
| C. furfuraceaJ87
| C. gigantea (Wallich) Holtt. 1935 [=Alsophila gigantea Wallich ex Hooker 1844]I88
| C. gleichenioidesC78
| ‘Hemitelia’ godefroyiB78
| C. harrisiiJ87
| C. kermadecensis Oliver 1910A61
| C. lindseyanaB78
| C. macarthurii [=Hemitelia macarthurii; incl. C. moorei]B78
| C. microphylla Meth. 1856A61
| C. milnei Hook. ex Hook. f. 1864A61
| ‘Hemitelia’ moorei Baker 1872B78
| C. muelleriN13
| C. smithii Hook. f. 1854 (see below for synonymy)A61
| C. spinulosa Wallich ex Hooker 1844I88
| C. stellulata Colenso 1886 (n. d.)C06 [=Hemitelia (Amphicosmia) stellulata Colenso 1886A61]
|--C. parvulaSP09
`--+--+--C. alataSP09
| `--C. poeppigiiSP09
`--+--Hymenophyllopsis [Hymenophyllopsidaceae]SP09
| `--H. dejectaSP09
`--+--C. horridaSP09 [=Polypodium horridumV97]
`--C. multifloraSP09
Cyathea chinensis Copel. 1909 [incl. Amphicosmia brunoniana (Hooker) Bedd. 1883, C. brunoniana (Hooker) Clarke 1880]I88
Cyathea dealbata (Forst. f.) Swartz 1801 [=Polypodium dealbatum Forst. f. 1786; incl. Hemitelia falciloba Colenso 1892, Cyathea falciloba (Colenso) Domin 1929, H. falcifolia (l. c.), C. tricolor Colenso 1883]A61
‘Cyathea’ leichhardtianaH90 [=Alsophila leichhardtianaB78; incl. A. macarthuriiB78, A. mooreiB78, A. woollsianaB78]
Cyathea smithii Hook. f. 1854 [=Hemitelia smithii Hooker 1865; incl. H. microphylla Colenso 1895 non Cyathea microphylla Mett. 1856, H. smithii var. microphylla Cheeseman 1906, C. novae-zelandiae Domin 1929]A61
Sphaeropteris medullaris Bernh. 1801SP09, A61 [=Polypodium medullare Forst. f. 1786A61, Cyathea medullaris (Forst. f.) Swartz 1801A61; incl. C. polyneuron Colenso 1879A61, C. medullaris var. polyneuron (Colenso) Domin 1915A61]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[A61] Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand vol. 1. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. R. E. Owen, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).
[B78] Bentham, G. 1878. Flora Australiensis: A description of the plants of the Australian Territory vol. 7. Roxburghiaceae to Filices. L. Reeve & Co.: London.
[BS-V28] Bory de Saint-Vincent, J. B. 1828. Voyage Autour du Monde, Exécuté par Ordre du Roi, Sur la Corvette de Sa Majesté, La Coquille, pendant les années 1822, 1823, 1824 et 1825. Botanique. Cryptogamie. Arthus Bertrand: Paris.
[C06] Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. John Mackay, Government Printer: Wellington.
[C93] Cleal, C. J. 1993. Pteridophyta. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 779–794. Chapman & Hall: London.
[C78] Clunie, N. M. U. 1978. The vegetation. In: Womersley, J. S. (ed.) Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea vol. 1 pp. 1–11. Melbourne University Press: Carlton South (Australia).
[H90] Harden, G. J. (ed.) 1990. Flora of New South Wales vol. 1. New South Wales University Press.
[I88] Iwatsuki, K. 1988. An enumeration of the pteridophytes of Nepal. In: Ohba, H., & S. B. Malla (eds) The Himalayan Plants vol. 1. The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 231–339.
[J87] Judd, W. S. 1987. Floristic study of Morne La Visite and Pic Macaya National Parks, Haiti. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum—Biological Sciences 32 (1): 1–136.
[KC01] Kirk, P. M., P. F. Cannon, J. C. David & J. A. Stalpers. 2001. Ainsworth & Bisby’s Dictionary of the Fungi 9th ed. CAB International: Wallingford (UK).
Korall, P., D. S. Conant, J. S. Metzgar, H. Schneider & K. M. Pryer. 2007. A molecular phylogeny of scaly tree ferns (Cyatheaceae). American Journal of Botany 94 (5): 873–886.
[L54] Lötschert, W. 1954. Beitrag zur Pteridophyten-Flora von Mittel-Amerika. Senckenbergiana Biologica 35 (1–2): 109–119.
[N13] Nadein, K. S. 2013. Febraina: a new subtribe of Alticini with cladistic analysis based on morphology (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae). Systematic Entomology 38 (3): 491–506.
[PB27] Pilsbry, H. A., & J. Bequaert. 1927. The aquatic mollusks of the Belgian Congo, with a geographical and ecological account of Congo malacology. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 53 (2): 69–602, pls 10–77.
[SP09] Schuettpelz, E., & K. M. Pryer. 2009. Evidence for a Cenozoic radiation of ferns in an angiosperm-dominated canopy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 106 (27): 11200–11205.
[SL05] Small, R. L., E. B. Lickey, J. Shaw & W. D. Hauk. 2005. Amplification of noncoding chloroplast DNA for phylogenetic studies in lycophytes and monilophytes with a comparative example of relative phylogenetic utility from Ophioglossaceae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 36: 509–522.
[T-W89] Tenison-Woods, J. E. 1889. On the vegetation of Malaysia. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 4 (1): 9–106, pls 1–9.
[T86] Trebeck, P. N. 1886. Mount Wilson and its ferns. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (2): 491–496.
[V97] Ventenat, C. 1797. Extrait d’un mémoire sur les fougeres, de M. Smith. Bulletin des Sciences, par la Societé Philomathique de Paris 1 (9): 71–72.