Asplenium pinnatifidum Nutt.

Lobed Spleenwort

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Lobed Spleenwort is a native perennial evergreen fern in the Spleenwort family (Aspleniaceae). It is native to the northern half of Alabama. Lobed Spleenwort grows in pockets of soil or moss on cliffs, on ledges, and on boulders of sandstone and other acidic rocks. It is a perennial from a short, often forked rhizome. The stem is erect or short creeping with reddish brown scales. The fronds (leaves) are deltoid in outline with long tapering tips, irregularly lobed or pinnatifid, often with 1 pair of basal pinnae, and pubescent on the lower surface. The petiole is dark reddish brown fading to green. The rachis is green. The fronds are monomorphic (sterile and fertile fronds of the same size and shape). Lobed Spleenwort reproduces by forming spores in sporangia located on the under surface of the leaf. The sporangia are grouped together in clusters called sori. The sori are covered by a thin flap of tissue known as the indusium. The sori often merge with age. Lobed Spleenwort is an allotetraploid derived from the hybrid of Mountain Spleenwort (Asplenium montanum Willdenow) and the Walking Fern (Asplenium rhizophyllum Linnaeus). This hybrid then underwent chromosome doubling. The hybrid has not been found in nature, but has been created in the lab. Lobed Spleenwort forms hybrids with Mountain Spleenwort (Asplenium montanum Willdenow) producing Trudell's Spleenwort (Asplenium ×trudellii Wherry); with Bradley's Spleenwort (Asplenium bradleyi D.C. Eaton) producing Grave's Spleenwort (Asplenium ×gravesii Maxon); with Ebony Spleenwort Asplenium platyneuron (Linnaeus) Britton, Sterns & Poggenburg ) producing Asplenium ×kentuckiense McCoy), and with Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes Linnaeus) producing Asplenium ×herb-wagneri W. C. Taylor & Mohlenbrock).--A. Diamond

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Native

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