Culcita is a genus of ferns, native to the Americas, Macaronesia and Iberian Peninsula. It is the only genus in the family Culcitaceae in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). Alternatively, the family may be treated as the subfamily Culcitoideae of a very broadly defined family Cyatheaceae, the placement used for the genus in Plants of the World Online as of November 2019.
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👉 Culcita (plant) in the context of Tree ferns
Tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae (scaly tree ferns), Dicksoniaceae, Metaxyaceae, and Cibotiaceae. It is estimated that Cyatheales originated in the early Jurassic, and is the third group of ferns known to have given rise to tree-like forms. The others are the extinct Tempskya of uncertain position, and Osmundales where the extinct Guaireaceae and some members of Osmundaceae also grew into trees. In addition there were the Psaroniaceae including Tietea in the Marattiales, which is the sister group to all the leptosporangiate ferns.
Other tree ferns include Leptopteris and Todea in the family Osmundaceae, which can achieve short trunks under a metre tall. Osmunda regalis is sometimes considered a tree fern. Fern species with short trunks in the genera Blechnum, Cystodium and Sadleria from the order Polypodiales and smaller members of Cyatheales like Calochlaena, Cnemedaria, Culcita, Lophosoria and Thyrsopteris are also considered tree ferns. The species Ctenitis sloanei (Florida tree fern) from Florida, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean is sometimes called a tree fern. Like all ferns, tree ferns reproduce by means of spores formed on the undersides of the fronds.
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Culcita (plant) in the context of Calochlaena
Calochlaena is a genus of ferns within the family Dicksoniaceae. Although these ground ferns resemble bracken, they are only distantly related. Five species are known from Melanesia, Polynesia and eastern Australia. Calochlaena dubia, is a common fern of the east coast of Australia. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek kalos "beautiful" and chlaina "cloak", and refers to the soft hairs on the species.
The genus was originally described by William Ralph Maxon as a subgenus of the fern genus Culcita, but the differences were such that its members were raised to genus level, and are now considered to be in separate families. Culcita was restricted to two species, one from Mediterranean Europe and one from North America.