Spore Morphology of Pteridophytes from China VI.Pteridaceae

The spore morphology of 30 species 4 variety of 2 genera of Pteridaceae from China was investigated under scanning electron microscope(SEM).Among them,29 species 4 variety belong to the genus Pteris.The spores of Pteris are trilete,radiosymmetrical,subtriangular in polar view and hemispherical or subhemispherical in equatorial view.The polar axes are 26μm long,and equatorial axes are 3497?μm long.The perispore is thin and the surface ornamentation is formed by the exospore.The types of ornamentation are tuberculiform-rugulate,verruciform-rugulate or lophate,the spore of most species with the equatoial flange,some species with proximal ridge and distal ridge.The spore morphology of Pteris is stable,and the difference between species is distinct,but the features of spore and sporophyte are not related.The spore of Histiopteris is monolete and bilaterally symmetrical,elliptical in polar view and kidney-shaped in equatorial view.The polar axes are 2223?μm long,and equatorial axes are 2936?μm long.The perispore is thin and the surface ornamentation is formed by the exospore.The surface is rugulate.The spore morphology of Histiopteris and Pteris is very differential,put genus Histiopteris in family Pteridaceae is not suitable,according to the feature of spore morphology.