NAHE

"Class Marattiopsida is a group of ferns containing a single order, Marattiales, and family, Marattiaceae. Class Marattiopsida diverged from other ferns very early in their evolutionary history and are quite different from many plants familiar to people in temperate zones. Many of them have massive, fleshy rootstocks and the largest known fronds of any fern.

The Marattiaceae is one of two eusporangiate fern families, meaning that the sporangium is formed from a group of cells vs the leptosporangium in which there is a single initial cell. There are four extant genera (Angiopteris, Christensenia, Danaea and Marattia) and it has a long fossil history with many extinct taxa (Psaronius, Asterotheca, Scolecopteris, Eoangiopteris, Qasimia, Marantoidea, Danaeites, Marattiopsis, etc.)

In this group, such fronds are found in the genus Angiopteris, native to Australasia, Madagascar and Oceania. These fronds may be up to 9 meters long in the species Angiopteris teysmanniana of Java.

In Jamaica the species Angiopteris evecta ['Mule's-foot Fern'] is widely naturalized and is registered as an invasive species. The plant was introduced by Captain Bligh from Tahiti as a staple food for slaves and cultivated in the Castleton Gardens in 1860. From there it was able to distribute itself throughout the eastern half of the island." (Wikipedia)