Classification
Class
Polypodiopsida
Subclass
Polypodiidae
Order
Polypodiales Link
Family
Onocleaceae Pic.Serm.
 Subordinate Taxa
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Onoclea L., Sp. Pl. 1062 (1753)
Type Taxon:
Onoclea sensibilis L.
Etymology:
From the Greek onos (vessel) and kleiein (to close), a reference to the sori being enclosed by the inrolled margins of the fertile pinnae.
 Description

Terrestrial ferns. Rhizomes long-creeping, scaly. Rhizome scales non-clathrate, broadly ovate, membranous, entire or undulate. Fronds strongly dimorphic; the fertile fronds shorter and greatly contracted, persistent 2–3 years; the sterile fronds deciduous, the bases swollen and surviving as storage organs over winter. Stipes chestnut-brown proximally, yellow-brown distally, glabrous or with a few scattered scales. Fertile laminae 2-pinnate, with the lamina greatly reduced, coriaceous, glabrous. Sterile laminae pinnatifid distally, pinnatifid to 1-pinnate-pinnatifid proximally, herbaceous or papery, glabrous or with scattered scales and hairs. Veins in fertile laminae free; veins in sterile laminae reticulate, areoles without free included veinlets. Sori round, on short receptacles, protected by strongly inrolled pinna margins; paraphyses absent. Indusia triangular, vestigial. Spores monolete, perispores with a few low folds and minutely echinate.

 Distribution

Onoclea is a monotypic genus that occurs in eastern Asia and North America. One species occurs as a casual in New Zealand.

 Biostatus
Exotic
Number of species in New Zealand within Onoclea L.
CategoryNumber
Exotic: Casual1
Total1
 Cytology

The base chromosome number Onoclea is x = 37 (Kramer 1990). 

 Bibliography
Brownsey, P.J.; Perrie, L.R. 2020: Onocleaceae. In: Breitwieser, I. (ed.) Flora of New Zealand — Ferns and Lycophytes. Fascicle 28. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln.
Hobbs, J.; Hatch, T. 1994: Bulbs for New Zealand Gardens. Godwit Press, Auckland.
Kramer, K.U. 1990: Dryopteridaceae. In: Kramer, K.U.; Green, P.S. Pteridophytes and gymnosperms. Vol. 1. In: Kubitzki, K. (ed.) The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Linnaeus, C. 1753: Species Plantarum. Impensis Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm.
Smith, A.R.; Pryer, K.M.; Schuettpelz, E.; Korall, P.; Schneider, H.; Wolf, P.G. 2006: A classification for extant ferns. Taxon 55(3): 705–731.