Pellaea Link, Fil. Spec.

Kessler, Michael, Smith, Alan R. & Prado, Jefferson, 2017, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. XXVII. Pteridaceae, Phytotaxa 332 (3), pp. 201-250 : 216

Pellaea Link, Fil. Spec. 59. 1841.

Pellaea is closely related to Astrolepis and Argyrochosma . The Bolivian species of Pellaea can be recognized by essentially glabrous, coriaceous, and often bluish green pinnae. Some species are apogamous. This is essentially a New World genus of about 20 species, mainly in dry or arid regions, especially western U.S.A. and Mexico ( Mickel & Smith 2004), with only a few widespread species in South America (including a Chilean endemic, P. myrtillifolia Mett. ex Kuhn ) and a single species, P.rufa A.F.Tryon , in southern Africa. As defined here and by A. Tryon (1957), Pellaea is not monophyletic, because P. breweri D.C.Eaton and P. cordifolia in the U.S.A., treated by Tryon in Pellaea , are apparently more closely allied to other pellaeaid genera (see, e.g., Schuettpelz et al. 2007, Eiserhardt et al. 2011). Most African ( Pellaeopsis , Tryonella ) and Australasian ( Platyloma ) species ascribed to Pellaea are probably not congeneric either. See comments below, under P. sagittata . PPG I (2016) treated Pellaea in a broader sense than we do here, including the Old World segregates mentioned.