Eupodium J.Sm.

Tuomisto, Hanna, Kessler, Michael & Smith, Alan R., 2018, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. VIII. Marattiaceae, Phytotaxa 344 (1), pp. 64-68 : 67

Eupodium J.Sm. in Hooker, Gen. Fil. (Hooker): t. 118. 1842.

Large ferns with massive, stout, globose rhizomes and large succulent stipules. Petioles thick and usually without nodes. Blades monomorphic, 2- to 4-pinnate, ultimate pinnae alternate, the rachises often winged. Sori are in distinct synangia that are raised to short-stalked and opening by apical slits. Eupodium is distinct in the family in having scattered awns adaxially along veins of pinnae. A neotropical genus with three species ( Murdock 2008a, Christenhusz 2010b).

Species currently placed in Eupodium were long treated as members of the genus Marattia (e.g., Underwood 1909, Tuomisto & Moran 2001, Lavalle 2003), but molecular studies have shown that three distinct clades are involved, including Marattia in the strict sense, with 7 species in Mexico and the Caribbean region, southern Brazil, and Hawai’i, palaeotropical Ptisana , with 20 species, and neotropical Eupodium (sister to Ptisana ) ( Murdock 2008a). As thus treated, all three genera are monophyletic.