From the neo-Latin micro - (Greek mikros, small), and sorus (Greek soros), indicating the small sori of some species, including the type.

Microsorum punctatum (L.) Copel.

Epiphytic or lithophytic ferns, occasionally terrestrial. Rhizome long- or short-creeping, scaly; scales clathrate, at least in the centre. Stipes articulated to short stalks (phyllopodia) borne at intervals along the rhizome. Lamina simple and entire, variously lobed or deeply 1-pinnatifid; veinlets running in all directions and ending in hydathodes. Sori rounded or somewhat elongated, superficial or impressed into the lamina, arranged in ± regular rows or scattered over the surface. Spores smooth or tuberculate.

[This description of Microsorum from the Flora of Australia Volume 48 by Bostock & Spokes (1998) requires revision to exclude elements of, and/or differentiate from Dendroconche and Zealandia, genera now recognised by the Australian Plant Census, accessed June 2022 - Editor.]

A genus of c. 50 species, including those sometimes placed in Phymatodes C.Presl (now correctly called Phymatosorus Pic.Serm.) from Africa to Polynesia but predominantly in tropical Asia; eight species in Australia. [43 species, Microsorum, in Plants of the World Online, accessed 6 June 2022; 6 species in Australia - Editor.]

Phymatosorus has been quite widely adopted recently, following Bosman (1991), but I (PDB) prefer to retain the more broadly circumscribed genus. Nooteboom (1997) has confirmed that some of the diagnostic characters of Phymatosorus, as interpreted by Bosman, are not as consistent as she implied, or were interpreted incorrectly. In addition, there is evidence of hybridity between the genera Microsorum s. str. and Phymatosorus (see Microsorum maximum). In particular, the application of the terms anadromous and catadromous is of doubtful value when applied to areolate venation.

[This treatment from the Flora of Australia Volume 48 by Bostock & Spokes (1998) requires revision since Microsorum pustulatum is now treated as Zealandia pustulata (G.Forst.) Testo & A.R.Field, and Microsorum scandens is now treated as Dendroconche scandens (G.Forst.) Testo, Sundue & A.R.Field; see Testo et al. (2019) and Field (2020), following the Australian Plant Census (CHAH 2021, accessed June 2022) - Editor.]

Andrews, S.B. (1990). Ferns of Queensland. (Queensland Department of Primary Industries: Brisbane).

Bosman, M.T.M. (1991). A monograph of the fern genus Microsorum: including an attempt towards a reconstruction of the phylogenetic history of the microsoroids. Leiden Botanical Series 14: 1–161.

Bostock, P.D. & Spokes, T.M. (1998). Polypodiaceae, in McCarthy, P.M. (ed.), Flora of Australia 48: 468–495. (ABRS: Canberra/CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood).

Du Puy, D.J. (1993). Polypodiaceae, in George, A.S. et al. (eds), Flora of Australia 50: 545–549. (Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra); Microsorum pp. 547–548.

Elliot, W.R. & Jones, D.L. (1993). Microsorum, in Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation 6: 411–412. (Lothian Books:Port Melbourne).

Field, A.R. (2020). Classification and typification of Australian lycophytes and ferns based on Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification PPG I. Australian Systematic Botany 33(1): 1–102.

Green, P.S. (1994). Polypodiaceae, in Wilson, A.J.G. (ed.), Flora of Australia 49: 571–576. (Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra).

Holttum, R.E. (1968). Fl. Malaya (Ferns) 2nd edn, 2: 170–180, 188–193 (1968), p.p., as Phymatodes.

Nooteboom, H.P. (1997). The Microsoroid ferns (Polypodiaceae). Blumea 42(2): 261–395.

Spencer, R. (1995). Microsorum, in Ferns, Conifers & Their Allies, Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia 1: 102–104. (University of New South Wales Press: Sydney).

Testo, W.L., Field, A.R., Sessa, E.B. & Sundue, M. (2019). Phylogenetic and morphological analyses support the resurrection of Dendroconche and the recognition of two new genera in Polypodiaceae subfamily Microsoroideae. Systematic Botany 44(4): 1–16.

Tindale, M.D. (1961). Polypodiaceae, in Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium, Flora of New South Wales Series 210: 24–46.

Wheeler, J.R. (1992). Polypodiaceae, in J.R. Wheeler (ed.) et al., Flora of the Kimberley Region, p. 40. (Department of Conservation and Land Management: Como, W.A.).

Revised edition, 6 June 2022. Adapted from Bostock & Spokes (1998). Tentative updates by P.G. Kodela (June 2022).