American Ferns—V. A Review of the Genus Danaea 
Es By Lucien Marcus UNDERWOOD 
While the two genera Marattia and Angiopteris have received 
Various attention at the hands of botanists, systematic and other- 
wise, the American genus Danaea has always been passed over 
and, except for the additions of species which have been made to 
it from time to time, has never received a special revision. There 
are numerous papers on the morphology, anatomy, and develop- 
ment of both Marattia and Angiofteris, but almost nothing has 
_ been done with any of the much more simple species of Danaea. De 
Vriese and Harting monographed the family Marattiaceae in 1853 * 
but did not include the genus Danaea. 
In Synopsis Filicum, 1874, Baker recognized eight species of 
Marattia, one of Angiopteris, one of Kaulfussia, and thirteen of 
Danaea, although De Vriese and Harting had separated thirty 
Species of Marattia (which they has distributed among five genera), 
_ four of Kawlfussia, and sixty of Angiopteris. In New Ferns, 1892, 
_ Baker adds two species of Danaea, bringing the number now rec- 
Ognized at that centre to fifteen: Besides the above genera, the 
family contains the old world genus Archangiopteris recently es- 
tablished with one Chinese species. We have two species of 
Marattia (MZ. lava and WM. alata) in tropical North America and a 
third species (MW. Douglasit) in the Sandwich Islands. 
_ The genus Danaea is strictly American, extending from Cuba 
and southern Mexico to Brazil, and is represented by ferns of a 
More or less coarse habit. The leaves are simply pinnate (or 
ple in one South American species) and dimorphous, the sporo- 
lls being usually much smaller, with the under surfaces of the 
covered with the parallel linear synangia, each composed 
of cells or cavities opening by a terminal pore. Danaea 
thus forms: a group that is easily recognized when the sporophylls 
are present. Like its living and fossil congeners Danaea has free 
Veins as would be expected in a simple and probably very old type 
of fern allies, 
ar We Voice & Having , Monographie des Marattiacées. Folio, i-viii, 1-60, 7. 
acide et Ditenaert. 1853. B69 
