The Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I) accepts three genera, placing the Gymnosphaera clade within Alsophila.

[1] In 2018, Dong and Zuo proposed the relationship shown in the cladogram below, and provided names in Gymnosphaera for species they considered to belong in this genus.

[2][3] It is found in moist montane forests, on slopes or in ravines, forming part of the lower canopy, middle understorey, or ground layers.

In Australia, A. australis is commonly grown and is a robust species, capable of tolerating some sun if kept in moist soil.

[14] 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).