Abstract
The fern family Matoniaceae C. Presl (1847: 32) is a small group composed of only two genera, Matonia R. Brown in Wallich (1829: 16) and Phanerosorus Copeland (1909: 344) with three or four species characterized by rhizomes with polycyclic solenosteles covered with thick uniseriate hairs, anastomosing veins in fertile parts of the lamina, peltate and fugacious indusia, relatively large sporangia and gametangia, and tetrahedral, trilete spores (Kramer 1990, Kato & Setoguchi 1998). The two genera differ from each other in leaf architecture (pedate in Matonia and pinnate in Phanerosorus), habit, and habitat preferences (Phanerosorus pendent and obligately calcicolous and Matonia erect and preferring exposed, sometimes mineralized ridges of high mountains; Kato & Iwatsuki 1985, Barcelona et al. 1996).
