What is "tectariaceae"

Tectariaceae is a family of Leptosporangiate ferns in the order Polypodiales. It comprises 10 genera, of which Tectaria is by far the largest.

In 1990, Karl U. Kramer and coauthors treated Pleocnemia and 7 of the currently recognized genera as a subfamily of Dryopteridaceae. Two other genera, Arthropteris and Psammiosorus, along with Oleandra, constituted Kramer's Oleandraceae. It is now known that Kramer's version of Dryopteridaceae is polyphyletic. Arthropteris and Psammiosorus form a clade that is sister to the rest of Tectariaceae and Tectariaceae is sister to a clade consisting of Oleandraceae, Davalliaceae, and Polypodiaceae. In 2006, in a revision of fern classification, Tectariaceae was an accepted family. In 2007, a molecular phylogenetic study of Dryopteridaceae included Pleocnemia and showed that it belongs in Dryopteridaceae. Also in 2007, Dracoglossum was named as a new genus. It is probably most closely related to Hypoderris.

Tectariaceae has never been the main subject of a cladistic analysis, and the relationships among its genera are poorly understood. The genus Tectaria was recently defined broadly to include Ctenitopsis, Quercifilix, Hemigramma, and some other genera that many works have recognized. This article has treated Tectaria in the same broad sense.