Danaea

Danaea
Danaea leprieurii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Marattiales
Family: Marattiaceae
Genus: Danaea
Sm.
Type species
Danaea nodosa
(L.) Sm.
Species

See text

Synonyms[citation needed]
  • Heterodanaea Presl
  • †Danaeopsis Presl

Danaea is a fern genus of approximately 50 species in the eusporangiate fern family Marattiaceae. They are small to intermediately large ferns with erect or creeping rhizomes and usually once-pinnate leaves with opposite pinnae. The fertile leaves are contracted, acrostichoid and covered below with sunken, linear synangia. The genus Danaea has a neotropical distribution, occurring from southern Mexico through Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America to Bolivia, Paraguay and the Mata Atlantica in Brazil and Northern Argentina. There is also a population on Isla del Coco (Cocos Island) in the Pacific.

The genus name of Danaea is named after the Greek mythology, Danaë, an Argive princess and mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus.[1]

Two species Danaea carillensis (Costa Rica) and D. simplicifolia (Guianas, Brazil, Trinidad) have simple, undivided leaves, and some other species sometimes have bipinnate leaves (D. atlantica, D. bipinnata, D. nodosa, D. urbanii). One species Danaea kalevala of the Lesser Antilles was named in honour of the Finnish heroic epic Kalevala.

The basal chromosome number for this genus is 2n=80. The type species is Danaea nodosa.

  1. ^ Burkhardt, Lotte (2022). Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen [Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2022. ISBN 978-3-946292-41-8. S2CID 246307410. Retrieved January 27, 2022.