Pityrogramma Link, Handbuch

Kessler, Michael, Smith, Alan R. & Prado, Jefferson, 2017, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. XXVII. Pteridaceae, Phytotaxa 332 (3), pp. 201-250 : 222-223

Pityrogramma Link, Handbuch 3: 19–20. 1833.

= Trismeria Fée, Mém. Foug. 5(Gen. Filic.) 164. 1852.

Rhizomes with scales only, usually farinose blade undersides, pinnatifid and tapered blade apices, sori located along the entire vein length, indusia and pseudoindusia lacking. Idioblasts were reported for several species of Pityrogramma in Bolivia by Sundue (2009). Hybrids between species appear to be relatively frequent, but further documentation is needed. A genus of about 20 species, most of these in the Neotropics, with a few species in Africa and Madagascar; one species, P. calomelanos , is naturalized throughout the Paleotropics. Eight species are known from Bolivia. Tryon (1962) presented a synoptical treatment of the genus; Murillo & Murillo (1999) treated eight species from Colombia. The genus is presumably monophyletic, but more sampling is needed ( Schneider et al. 2013, Zhang et al. 2015).

A closely related genus, Anogramma , with ca. 5 species, was once thought to occur in Bolivia, based on the presence of Anogramma chaerophylla , but that species has now been shown to be more appropriately placed in Pityrogramma (see below). Two true anogrammas may indeed occur in Bolivia: 1) Pantropical Anogramma leptophylla (L.) Link has rhizomes with hairs 1 mm long and lacks scales, petioles usually glabrous, blades narrowly to broadly ovate, to 20 cm long, segments with somewhat obtuse lobes, and dark brown spores; and 2) Anogramma lorentzii (Hieron.) Diels from northwestern Argentina, southern Brazil, and Uruguay may also occur in Bolivia. The latter is a tiny, easily overlooked species with leaves to 3 cm long and pinnate blades with obtuse lobes. Chromosome numbers in Anogramma , x = 29, were reported by Gastony & Baroutsis (1975), the same as for Pityrogramma and other members of subfam. Pteridoideae .

Trismeria , with a single species, T. trifoliata (= Pityrogramma trifoliata ) and distinctive in its blade architecture, nests within Pityogramma and hybridizes with species in the latter genus.