Greek dory, lance, + pteris, fern, referring to the frond shape in some species.

Plants small to medium-sized, terrestrial. Rhizomes decumbent to erect. Stipes round or grooved, often with ribs or wings on sides, usually long, black, lustrous; cross section near base revealing 1-2 vascular bundles. Blades usually palmate, deltate to oblong-lanceolate, with enlarged base facing segments of lower pinnae, glabrous. Veins obscure, free or anastomosing, forming areoles. Coenosori continuous along nearly entire margins. False indusia formed by reflexed, modified segment margins.

A genus of about thirty species widely distributed in tropical America, the Old World, New Guinea, and the Pacific. Represented in Hawai 'i by four endemic species and a hybrid continuum between two of them. The Hawaiian species are quite variable, and the distinctions between them are often not clear-cut. Doryopteris is closely related to Cheilanthes and Pellaea, and in the past some Hawaiian species of Doryopteris were sometimes placed in those genera.

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF DORYOPTERIS IN HAWAI'I

1. Fronds large, up to 60 cm long; blades to 30 x 30 cm; stipes thick, 2-4 mm in diam., adaxially flattened, with conspicuous adaxial ridges (more conspicuous on living material); Kaua 'i ..................... 1. D. angelica

1. Fronds smaller, up to 30 cm long; blades to 15 x 17 cm; stipes thinner, up to 1.3 mm diam., round, not or minimally ridged; Kaua'i and other islands (2).

2(1). Rachises between 2 lowest pinna pairs usually entirely winged; ultimate segments triangular or falcate, not parallel-sided, usually 4-6 mm wide at bases; all major islands, Ni'ihau, Lehua, and Kaho'olawe ...... 2. D. decipiens

2. Rachises between 2 lowest pinna pairs without laminar wings or winged in distal 1/2 or less; ultimate segments linear (ovate-linear in D. takeuchii), parallel-sided, 5 mm or less wide (3).

3(2). Rachises between first and second pinna pairs only slightly longer than between second and third pairs; blades roughly triangular, often forming a 3-dimensional cluster of upright segments; all major islands and Kaho'olawe ............................................ 3. D. decora

3. Rachises between first and second pinna pairs almost twice as long as between second and third pairs; blades elliptic-triangular to elliptic, flat in one plane; O'ahu (Diamond Head) ................... 4. D. takeuchii