Alsophila | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Division: | Pteridophyta |
Order: | Cyatheales |
Family: | Cyatheaceae |
Genus: | Cyathea |
Subgenus: | Cyathea |
Section: |
Alsophila R. Brown, 1810 |
Alsophila is a section in the subgenus Cyathea. The name was originally applied to a genus of tree ferns which is now considered to be synonymous with Cyathea.
In the 1971 comedy film A New Leaf, Henrietta Lowell (played by Elaine May) is a botanist whose dream is to classify a new species of fern. On a honeymoon trip, she indeed discovers a new species which she names Alsophila grahami after her new husband Henry Graham (Walter Matthau). She describes the plant as having a vestigial indusium.