User:KDS4444/Diplazium

Diplazium is a genus of the cliff fern family that specifically includes the approximately 400 known species of twinsorus ferns. The Greek root is diplazein meaning double: the plants indusia lie on both sides of the vein. These ferns were earlier considered part of either the Athyriaceae, Dryopteridaceae, Aspleniaceae, or Polypodiaceae families but are frequently recognized as belonging to their own family. The taxonomy of the genus is difficult and poorly-known, and has never been the subject of a monographic study Their distribution is pantropical.

The rhizome of the Diplazium genus varies from creeping to erect, and is scaly. Its fronds are deciduous or evergreen, are trophopodic and are either monomorphic or weakly dimorphic. The stipe is green, deeply grooved from above, and is either scaly or glabrous. It always has two lunate vascular bundles. The blades are either singular or in sets of two and are entirely pinnate, range from oblong-lanceolate to deltate, and from herbaceous to papery. It has linear basal sori that are paired back-to-back on the same vein. The indusium is linear and persistent, and the sporangia are brownish. The USDA symbol for the species is DISPLA2. Its ITIS Taxonomic Serial Number is 17501.

Some common varieties include Diplazium hymenodes, the peacock fern; Diplazium pycnocarpon, the glade fern or narrow-leaved spleenwort; Diplazium esculentum, the vegetable fern; Diplazium molokaiense, the Molokai twinsorus fern; and Diplazium lonchophyllum, the lance-leaved glade fern.