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Charles Darwin Foundation Galapagos Species Checklist


Ferns and related groups

Ferns in the highlands of Santa Cruz, Galápagos

Ferns in the highlands of Santa Cruz, Galápagos

© S. Bates, Arizona State University
Licensed under Creative Commons +

Pteridophytes are closely related to seed plants, and have developed roots, true leaves, a complex vascular system, and an apical growth meristem. Unlike seed plants they reproduce with spores and have two separate and well differentiated, alternating generations: a free-living sporophyte and a free-living gametophyte.
They are also different from the seed plants in that their vascular bundles are organized as tracheids. Their xylem is more primitive and they lack a vascular cambium.

Pteridophytes are dispersed via their spores, unlike gymnosperms that produce seeds, and angiosperms that produce fruits with seeds. Like seeds, many spores are resistant and can endure unfavorable environmental conditions.

Phylogenetically, pteridophytes are among the oldest plants with roots, stems, and leaves. Some were already present in the Cambrian and reached their evolutionary peak in the Mesozoic.
World-wide about 11,000 species are known, being most diverse in the humid tropics.
They have little commercial importance and are principally used as ornamentals.


Authors: Patricia Jaramillo Díaz, Anne Guézou, André Mauchamp, Alan Tye.

Other Contributors: Henning Adsersen, Ivan Aldáz, Chris Buddenhagen, Baltasar Cabezudo, Susana Chamorro, César Gómez-Campos †, Jacinto Gordillo, Ana Mireya Guerrero, Ole Hamman, Syuzo Itow, Heinke Jäger, Jonas E. Lawesson, Simon Lægaard, Conley McMullen, Duncan M. Porter, Paola Pozo, Alan Stewart, Maria M. Trigo, Alan Tye, Daniel Weber, Ira L. Wiggins.

Names of taxa included: 128 total (126 accepted, 1 unidentified taxon, 1 doubtful), 2 rejected.

Origin of the taxa included: 12 cultivated, 2 questionable native, 8 endemic, 107 indigenous.

Pteridophyta Species Checklist

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Domain Eukaryota

Kingdom Plantae

Division Pteridophyta

Class Equisetopsida

Order Equisetales

Class Lycopodiopsida

Order Lycopodiales

Order Selaginellales

Class Psilotopsida

Order Psilotales

Class Pteridopsida

Order Athyriales

Order Dryopteridales

Order Ophiohlossales

Order Polypodiales

Order Pteridales

Order Salviniales

Rejected Species

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You are welcome to download and use this information acknowledging the origin of the data.
This list should be cited as follows:

Jaramillo Díaz, P., Guézou, A., Mauchamp, A., Tye, A. (2011). CDF Checklist of Galapagos Ferns and related groups - FCD Lista de especies de Helechos y grupos relacionados de Galápagos. In: Bungartz, F., Herrera, H., Jaramillo, P., Tirado, N., Jiménez-Uzcátegui, G., Ruiz, D., Guézou, A. & Ziemmeck, F. (eds.). Charles Darwin Foundation Galapagos Species Checklist - Lista de Especies de Galápagos de la Fundación Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin Foundation / Fundación Charles Darwin, Puerto Ayora, Galapagos: http://www.darwinfoundation.org/datazone/checklists/vascular-plants/pteridophyta/ Last updated 13 Apr 2011.