Asplenium platyneuron (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.

Ebony Spleenwort; Brown Stem Spleenwort

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Ebony Spleenwort is a native perennial evergreen fern in the Spleenwort family (Aspleniaceae). It is native throughout Alabama. Ebony Spleenwort is an ecological generalist, growing in a variety of habitats from hardwood floodplain forests to dry pine woods, on roadsides, on rocks or old masonry, in urban forests, and in disturbed sites. It is a perennial from a short rhizome. The stem is short creeping with dark brown to black scales. The fronds (leaves) are dimorphic with the fertile leaves larger and more erect than the sterile leaves. The leaves are linear-deltoid to lanceolate in outline, glabrous or rarely sparsely pubescent, 1-pinnate with 15-45 pairs of oblong auriculate pinnae. The pinnae are crenate to serrate or incised on their margins. The petiole is reddish brown and the rachis is shiny reddish or purplish brown and glabrous. Ebony Spleenwort reproduces by forming spores in sporangia located on the under surface of the leaf. The sporangia are grouped together in clusters called sori. Ebony Spleenwort is one of the most common ferns in Alabama. It is known to hybridize with Asplenium rhizophyllum , Asplenium trichomanes, Asplenium pinnatifidum , Asplenium ruta-muraria, Asplenium bradleyi , and Asplenium montanum.—A. Diamond

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Native FACU (NWPL)

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