Calochlaena

Calochlaena is a genus of ferns within the family Dicksoniaceae.^[1] Although these ground ferns resemble bracken, they are only distantly related. Five species are known from Melanesia, Polynesia and eastern Australia. Calochlaena dubia, is a common fern of the east coast of Australia. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek kalos "beautiful" and chlaina "cloak", and refers to the soft hairs on the species.^[2]

Calochlaena
Calochlaena dubia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Division:	Polypodiophyta
Class:	Polypodiopsida
Order:	Cyatheales
Family:	Dicksoniaceae
Genus:	Calochlaena (Maxon) M.D.Turner & R.A.White
Type species
Calochlaena dubia (Brown) Turner & White
Species
See text

The genus was originally described by William Ralph Maxon as a subgenus of the fern genus Culcita, but the differences were such that its members were raised to genus level, and are now considered to be in separate families. Culcita was restricted to two species, one from Mediterranean Europe and one from North America.^[3]

Species

Plants of the World Online as of As of January 2023^[update] recognizes the following species:^[4]

Image	Scientific name	Distribution
	Calochlaena dubia (R. Br.) M.D. Turner & R.A. White	Australia
	Calochlaena javanica (Blume) M.D. Turner & R.A. White	Malesia.
	Calochlaena novae-guineae (Rosenst.) M.D. Turner & R.A. White	New Guinea.
	Calochlaena straminea (Labill.) M.D. Turner & R.A. White	Bismarck Archipelago, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Philippines (Mindanao), Samoa, Solomon Island, Vanuatu
	Calochlaena villosa (C. Chr.) M.D. Turner & R.A. White	New Guinea, Australia (Queensland), Sulawesi

Phylogeny

Phylogeny of Calochlaena[5][6]
Calochlaena C. straminea (de Labillardière) Turner & White C. novae-guineae (Rosenstock) Turner & White C. villosa (Christensen) Turner & White C. dubia (Brown) Turner & White (False bracken) C. javanica (Blume) Turner & White