Pityrogramma ochracea, Pteridaceae, Bolivia, 2007. Not much that I can tell you about this particular species except that it is an attractive, reasonably large terrestrial fern that I photographed in the Andean foothill region, but I thought this blog could feature a few more ferns. Pityrogramma is currently in the Pteridaceae family but the familial classification of the polypod ferns is still in flux. Since my studies in the late 90ies I have not seen any sense in learning the circumscription of fern families in the polypod lineage, and the situation is still the same. The ones further out - Schizaeaceae, Gesneriaceae, Lygodiaceae, tree ferns, etc. - appear to be clear-defined and easily recognized, but in the polypod lineage the dust hasn't settled to a sufficient degree to make sense of relationships. "More work is needed."
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