J Syst Evol ›› 1981, Vol. 19 ›› Issue (1): 57-74.

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A study of the genus Aleuritopteris Fée in China

Wu Su-Kung   

  1.  (Kunming Botanical Institute, Academia Sinica)
  • Published:1981-02-18

Abstract: As a genus, Aleuritopteris was first founded by Fée upon Pteris farinosa Forsk. in 1852. The genus had been ever since, however, practically forgotten, because it did not receive a general recognition among the fern students, who considered it either as Cheilanthes (Baker. 1897, Diels, 1900, C. Christensen 1905), or placed it in Pellaea (Hooker. 1858, Hope et Wright 1903). Ching (1941) first reinstated the status of Aleuritopteris and later followed by Copeland (1947), Panigrahi (1961, 1962.) and Pichi-Sermolli (1975). In recent years, however, some pteridologists (Nayar, 1962, K. Iwatsuki and others) are still against it as a distinct genus. Our recent study of the rich material on hand has shown Aleuritopteris to be a distinct genus, according to both the morphological characteristics and geographical distribution. We further propose the possibly evolutionary relationships of Aleuritopteris with other related genera of the Cheilanthoid ferns, as indicated by the above scheme. The genus is now represcented by a little more than 30 species, of which 25 areknown in China, among which 8 species and 3 varieties are diescribed for the first time.