CHAPTER XX 



MARATTIACEAE 



This family is represented by seven genera of living Ferns. The characters 

 of all the genera are well known, so that they form a sound basis for com- 

 parison with the related fossils. A number of these, dating back to the 

 Palaeozoic Period, show strong similarity to the modern forms both as 

 regards anatomy and the character of their sori. Their existence shows 

 that the Marattiaceous type has been a very ancient one. The natural 

 course will be first to consider the living Marattiaceae: we shall then 

 proceed to compare them with their fossil correlatives. 



External Characters. 

 The living genera are wdiVned, A?igiopieris, Alacroglossum, Archangiopteris, 

 Marattia, Protoviarattia, Danaea, and CJiristoisenia Maxon (= Kaulfiissia 

 Blume). They are all intertropical, Angiopteris from the eastern, Danaea from 

 the western, and Marattia from both hemispheres. The other four are from 

 the Malayan region. The erect stock oi Angiopteris, Marattia, and Archan- 

 giopteris is relativel}' short, massive, and unbranched: it is of a radial type, 

 and is entirely covered by the persistent bases of the crowded leaves (Fig. 

 388). It continues directly the radial symmetry initiated in the embryo, 



Angiopteris I t,ysnianiiiana dc Viiesc. .1, habil of a small plant, reduced to ■^. B, part 

 of a pinna, natural size. From Bitter (Engler and Prantl). 



