Grammitidaceae

The Grammitidaceae is no longer recognized as a distinct plant family. New DNA evidence has led to its inclusion within the family Polypodiaceae. This larger family, part of the order Polypodiales, contains about 1,200 species of ferns. These ferns are typically medium-sized to small, diverse, and widely distributed. They are often tropical and subtropical epiphytes, meaning they grow on other plants. A key characteristic of these ferns is their spore-producing structures (sporangia), which have an incomplete, vertically arranged band of thick-walled cells. The former Grammitidaceae genera, such as Grammitis, are now considered dwarf polypodies within the Polypodiaceae family.1