Numerical Taxonomic Studies on North American Lady Ferns and Their Allies

10.6165/tai.1972.17.190

劉華祥(Fah-Seong Liew)

TAIWANIA

17卷2期（1972 / 06 / 01）

190 - 221

英文

With both conventional and modern techniques the author undertakes to determine the proper systematics of the lady ferns of the genus Athyrium found in North America north of Mexico. A taximetric comparison of ninety-nine characters by the computer program working on a non-statistical optimization measure of cluster analysis (Rubin, 1966) is used to test the validity of conclusions reached by other methods. A semi-objective graphic evaluation of their phylogenetic relationship is considered by the grourd plan method (Wagner, 1961). Both analyses produce results essentially similar to those reached by biosystematic studies, namely that there are two distantly related lineages in Athyrium, one comprising the silvery athyrium and glade fern, the other the common and the alpine lady ferns. The glade fern is found to be a highly specialized member of its group, as is also the American alpine lady fern. Thus, there are four distinct species of Athyrium with the single species of lady fern consisting of three subspecies with geographically distinct ranges.