Vittarioideae worthy of subgeneric rank, while "Rheopteris" had not yet been discovered. "Haplopteris" he explicitly synonymized with "Vittaria" in 1914. Carl Christensen used the name "Vittarioideae" in Verdoorn's "Manual of Pteridology" in 1938, but did not include a description, leaving it nomenclaturally invalid. Ren-Chang Ching raised Vittariaceae to the rank of a family in 1940. The first well-sampled molecular phylogenetic study of the vittarioids was based on the chloroplast gene rbcL. In this study, it was found that the type species of "Monogramma" is embedded in "Haplopteris"; the segregation of "Vaginularia" from "Monogramma" was also supported, as members of "Vaginularia" formed
The Secret Life of Plants plants "might originate in a supramaterial world of cosmic beings which, as fairies, elves, gnomes, sylphs, and a host of other creatures, were a matter of direct vision and experience to clairvoyants among the Celts and other sensitives." The book has been criticized by botanists such as Arthur Galston for endorsing pseudoscientific claims. According to Galston and physiologist Clifford L. Slayman many of the claims in the book are false or unsupported by independent verification and replicable studies. Botanist Leslie Audus noted that the book is filled with nonsensical "outrageous" claims and should be regarded as fiction. The book was