The Cyatheaceae is a family of fern that includes the world's tallest tree ferns, which reach heights up to 20 m. They are also very ancient plants, appearing in the fossil record in the late Jurassic, though the modern genera likely appeared in the Tertiary. Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Divisions Green algae Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular embryophytes Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Seedless vascular plants Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants... Classes Marattiopsida Osmundopsida Gleicheniopsida Pteridopsida A fern, or pteridophyte, is any one of a group of some twenty thousand species of plants classified in the Division Pteridophyta, formerly known as Filicophyta. ... Subclasses Subclass: Cyatheatae Subclass: Schizaeatae Subclass: Pteriditae Subclass: Polypoditae The Pteridopsida is a class of plants in the Division Pteridophyta that includes the modern ferns. ... Families and Genera Cytheaceae     Alsophila     Cnemidaria     Cythaea     Sphaeropteris     Trichipteris Dicksoniaceae     Calochlaena     Cibotium     Culcita     Cystodium     Dicksonia     Thyrsopteris Losophoriaceae     Lophosoria Loxomaceae     Loxoma     Loxsomopsis Metaxyaceae     Metaxya The Order Cytheales is a taxonomic division of the fern (Division Pteridophyta) subclass, Cyatheatae, which includes the tree ferns. ... Click here Missing image Image:http://terceiroanel. ... Tree Fern refers to any fern that grows with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level. ... FOSSIL is a standard for allowing serial communication for telecommunications programs under DOS. FOSSIL stands for Fido Opus Seadog Standard Interface Layer and was made by a group of Fidonet sysops to make their software work on different machines. ... The Jurassic period is a major unit of the geologic timescale that extends from about 195 million years BP at the end of the Triassic to 135 million years BP at the beginning of the Cretaceous. ... See genus (mathematics) for the use of the term in mathematics. ... The Tertiary period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, from the end of the Cretaceous period about 64 million years ago to the start of the Quaternary period about 1. ...

All Cyatheaceae have scales instead of hairs, which are common in members of the family Dicksoniaceae. Their fronds are also very large, some of the largest in the plant kingdom. Some species have fronds reaching 3-4 m in length, and have a final crown width of some 6 m. The sori (spore clusters) also occur away from the margins of the pinnules (individual leaves), and are elongate or rounded. In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. ...

Most Cyatheaceae are terrestrial, with one sometimes being epiphytic and others having a creeping habit, but these are exeptions to the family norm. An example of an epiphyte assemblage of orchids and bromeliads in a garden setting The term epiphyte refers to any plant that grows upon or attached to another living plant. ...

Since the exact number of species is not known, classification of the Cyatheaceae has had a long and controversial history, and is still undergoing revision. Three tentative clades have been developed: Alsophila, Cyathea, and Sphaeropteris. These are frequently used as genus names. There is one additional genus, Cnemidaria. It is likely that in time the Cyathea will be split into additional genera. Greek clados = branch) or phylogenetic systematics is a branch of biology that determines the evolutionary relationships of living things based on derived similarities. ...

The family name was coined by Georg Friedrich Kaulfuss in 1827.

References

• Braggins, John E. and Large, Mark F. Tree Ferns. Timber Press (2004). ISBN 0881926302