Asplenium platyneuron
| Ebony spleenwort | |
|---|---|
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| A. platyneuron fronds | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Pteridophyta |
| Class: | Polypodiopsida |
| Order: | Polypodiales |
| Family: | Aspleniaceae |
| Genus: | Asplenium |
| Species: | A. platyneuron |
| Binomial name | |
| Asplenium platyneuron (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb. |
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Asplenium platyneuron (ebony spleenwort) is a species of spleenwort with a peculiar distribution in two continents. In North America it is native almost throughout the eastern United States, and in the far southeast of Canada; there are also isolated small populations in New Mexico, Arizona and the West Indies. It is also native in tropical and subtropical southern Africa, on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean.
It is a small plant with single-pinnate fronds up to 50 cm long, with 15-45 pairs of pinnae, these triangular, 10-25 mm long and 3-5 mm broad at the base. It is distinctive by the presence of fertile fronds that are rigidly vertical and much longer than the arching sterile fronds.
It tolerates a wide variety of habitats. It may be found in recent or old disturbed sites in soil and may also be found on rock and masonry. This plant will frequently colonize masonry in urban and rural sites. It prefers calcareous rocks (or mortar joints) but will also grow on subacid rock.
The ebony spleenwort is sometimes grown as a terrarium or garden plant. It is also known to hybridize with several other spleenworts (see Asplenium hybrids).
An especially large and elaborate form of this fern is known as f. bacculum-rubrum (after Baton Rouge, Louisiana).
