Notholaena

Notholaena is a genus of ferns known as cloak ferns in the family Pteridaceae. Species of this genus are mostly epipetric (growing on rock) or occurring in coarse, gravelly soils, and are most abundant and diverse in the mountain ranges of warm arid or semiarid regions. They typically have a creeping or erect rhizome and leaves that are pinnatifid to pinnate-pinnatifid with marginal sori protected by a false indusium formed from the reflexed margin of the leaf. Members of the genus Notholaena also has a coating of whitish or yellowish farina (a powdery secretion of lipophilic exudates), primarily on the abaxial (lower) surface of the leaves and along the margin of prothallium of gametophytes. Members of the related genera including Aleuritopteris, Argyrochosma, Pentagramma, as well as several genera and species in other subfamilies of Pteridaceae, also exhibit farina on the lower leaf surface. Meanwhile, gametophytic farina is almost exclusively observed in Notholaena, with only occa......read more on Wikipedia.