Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, leída el 05-09-2022The family Blechnaceae is a lineage that includes about 280 species in 25 genera, and together with the Onocleaceae is the most recent family of ferns. Within this family, Parablechnum is the most diverse genus, with about 65 species. The distribution of this genus reflects very well the distribution of the most diverse areas of the family: Central and South America, the Austropacific and some representatives in southern Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarene archipelago.The distribution of this genus reflects a disjunction that could easily be explained by Gondwanan vicariance, but the available dating indicates that the genus underwent...