Cochlidium Kaulf., Berl. Jahrb. Pharm.

Smith, Alan R., Kessler, Michael, León, Blanca, Almeida, Thaís Elias, Jiménez-Pérez, Iván & Lehnert, Marcus, 2018, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. XL. Polypodiaceae, Phytotaxa 354 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

Cochlidium Kaulf., Berl. Jahrb. Pharm. 21: 36. 1820.

= Xiphopteris Kaulf., Berl. Jahrb. Pharm. 21: 35. 1820.

Cochlidium is defined by having simple, entire or serrulate blades, concolorous, tan, non-setose rhizome scales, hydathodes (usually), 2–8-celled hairs with thickened intercellular walls, and often confluent sori (coenosori) ( Bishop 1978). Earlier, Maxon (1914) revised some of the American species; Christensen (1929) also dealt with Cochlidium and other genera that he believed, because they have linear sori, to be related, while offering comments on phylogenetic relationships. Bolivian species typically have conduplicately folded fertile blades that partially hide the sporangia. Cochlidium is a neotropical genus of 16 species. Three species occur in Bolivia, and one species, C. serrulatum , also occurs in Africa and offshore islands. Labiak & Prado (2003) treated the Brazilian species of Cochlidium . The center of species diversity is in the Antilles and northern South America.

Phylogenetic relationships of Cochlidium appear to be with Grammitis s.s., and the two may be sister genera ( Ranker et al. 2004, Hirai et al. 2011, Sundue et al. 2014).