Gymnosphaera

Gymnosphaera
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Division:	Polypodiophyta
Class:	Polypodiopsida
Order:	Cyatheales
Family:	Cyatheaceae
Genus:	Gymnosphaera; Blume
Type species
	Gymnosphaera glabra; Blume
Species
	See text
Synonyms
	Alsophila section Gymnosphaera (Blume) Moore; Alsophila (Gymnosphaera) (Blume) Q.Xia; Cyathea (Gymnosphaera) (Blume) Tindale; Cyathea section Gymnosphaera (Blume) Holttum;

Gymnosphaera is a genus of tree ferns in family Cyatheaceae.

Taxonomy

The genus was originally described by Carl Ludwig Blume in 1828.^[1] It was frequently treated by later authors as a synonym of Cyathea or Alsophila.

In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), Gymnosphaera was left as a synonym of Alsophila, as evidence to support its reliable separation was lacking.^[2] More recently, Shi-Yong Dong and collaborators proposed the revival and recircumscription of the genus based on additional phylogenetic evidence,^[3] an act subsequently accepted by other tree fern workers.^[4]

Phylogeny

As of January 2023^[update], the following species are accepted in the genus as currently circumscribed by the Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World:^[5]

Phylogeny of Gymnosphaera^[6]^[7]

Other species include:

Gymnosphaera

G. capensis (L.fil.) S.Y.Dong

G. schliebenii (Reimers) S.Y.Dong

Alsophila boiviniiformis (Rakotondr. & Janssen) Christenhusz 2018

G. impolita (Rakotondr. & Janssen) S.Y.Dong

G. andohahelensis (Tardieu) Tardieu

	G. poolii (C.Chr.) S.Y.Dong

	G. rouhaniana (Rakotondr. & Janssen) S.Y.Dong

G. salvinii (Hook.) S.Y.Dong

	G. hornei (Baker) Copel.

	Alsophila klossii (Ridl.) Tryon

	G. acrostichoides (Alderw.) S.Y.Dong

	G. schlechteri (Brause) Copel.

	G. olivacea (Brause) S.Y.Dong

	G. phlebodes (Lehnert & Coritico) S.Y.Dong

	G. baileyana (Domin) S.Y.Dong

	G. rebeccae (F.Muell.) S.Y.Dong

	G. annae (Alderw.) S.Y.Dong

	G. dimorpha (Christ) S.Y.Dong

	G. biformis (Rosenst.) Copel.

	G. scandens (Brause) S.Y.Dong

G. ramispina (Hook.) Copel.

	G. ogurae (Hayata) Tagawa

	G. subdubia (Alderw.) S.Y.Dong

	G. khasyana (T.Moore ex Kuhn) Ching

	G. lurida (Blume) S.Y.Dong

G. denticulata (Baker) Copel.

	G. bachmaensis S.Y.Dong

	G. podophylla (Hook.) Copel.

G. salletii (Tardieu & C.Chr. ex C.Chr. & Tardieu) S.Y.Dong

	G. austroyunnanensis (S.G.Lu) S.G.Lu & Chun X.Li

	G. saxicola S.Y.Dong & Z.Y.Zuo

	G. gigantea (Wall. ex Hook.) J.Sm.

	G. metteniana (Hance) Tagawa

	G. andersonii (Scott ex Beddome) Ching & Wu

	G. glabra Blume

Gymnosphaera alticola Tardieu
Gymnosphaera atropurpurea (Copel.) Copel.
Gymnosphaera bonii (Christ) S.Y.Dong
Gymnosphaera commutata (Mett.) S.Y.Dong
Gymnosphaera henryi (Baker) S.R.Ghosh
Gymnosphaera mildbraedii (Brause) S.Y.Dong
Gymnosphaera nicklesii Tardieu & F.Ballard ex Tardieu
Gymnosphaera ramispinoides (M.Kato) S.Y.Dong
Gymnosphaera rubella (Holttum) S.Y.Dong

References

^ Blume, Carl Ludwig (1828). Enumeratio plantarum Javae. Vol. 2. p. 242.
^ PPG I (2016). "A community-derived classification for extant lycophytes and ferns". Journal of Systematics and Evolution. 54 (6): 563–603. doi:10.1111/jse.12229. S2CID 39980610.
^ Dong, Shi-Yong; Zuo, Zheng-Yu (2018). "On the Recognition of Gymnosphaera As a Distinct Genus in Cyatheaceae". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 103 (1): 1–23. doi:10.3417/2017049. S2CID 90852235.
^ Loiseau, Oriane; Weigand, Anna; Noben, Sarah; Rolland, Jonathan; Silvestro, Daniele; Kessler, Michael; Lehnert, Marcus; Salamin, Nicolas (2020). "Slowly but surely: gradual diversification and phenotypic evolution in the hyper-diverse tree fern family Cyatheaceae". Annals of Botany. 125 (1): 93–103. doi:10.1093/aob/mcz145. PMC 6948215. PMID 31562744.
^ Hassler, Michael (19 January 2023). "Gymnosphaera". Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World. 14.1. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
^ Nitta, Joel H.; Schuettpelz, Eric; Ramírez-Barahona, Santiago; Iwasaki, Wataru; et al. (2022). "An Open and Continuously Updated Fern Tree of Life". Frontiers in Plant Science. 13: 909768. doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.909768. PMC 9449725. PMID 36092417.
^ "Tree viewer: interactive visualization of FTOL". FTOL v1.7.0 (GenBank release 261). 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2025.

[1] Blume, Carl Ludwig (1828). Enumeratio plantarum Javae. Vol. 2. p. 242.

[PPGI-2] PPG I (2016). "A community-derived classification for extant lycophytes and ferns". Journal of Systematics and Evolution. 54 (6): 563–603. doi:10.1111/jse.12229. S2CID 39980610.

[3] Dong, Shi-Yong; Zuo, Zheng-Yu (2018). "On the Recognition of Gymnosphaera As a Distinct Genus in Cyatheaceae". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 103 (1): 1–23. doi:10.3417/2017049. S2CID 90852235.

[4] Loiseau, Oriane; Weigand, Anna; Noben, Sarah; Rolland, Jonathan; Silvestro, Daniele; Kessler, Michael; Lehnert, Marcus; Salamin, Nicolas (2020). "Slowly but surely: gradual diversification and phenotypic evolution in the hyper-diverse tree fern family Cyatheaceae". Annals of Botany. 125 (1): 93–103. doi:10.1093/aob/mcz145. PMC 6948215. PMID 31562744.

[CFLW-5] Hassler, Michael (19 January 2023). "Gymnosphaera". Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World. 14.1. Retrieved January 21, 2023.

[6] Nitta, Joel H.; Schuettpelz, Eric; Ramírez-Barahona, Santiago; Iwasaki, Wataru; et al. (2022). "An Open and Continuously Updated Fern Tree of Life". Frontiers in Plant Science. 13: 909768. doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.909768. PMC 9449725. PMID 36092417.

[7] "Tree viewer: interactive visualization of FTOL". FTOL v1.7.0 (GenBank release 261). 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2025.

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