Asplenium appendiculatum

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Asplenium appendiculatum
Asplenium appendiculatum log.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Polypodiales
Suborder: Aspleniineae
Family: Aspleniaceae
Genus: Asplenium
Species:
A. appendiculatum
Binomial name
Asplenium appendiculatum
C.Presl

Asplenium appendiculatum (formerly known as Asplenium terrestre), ground spleenwort, is a common native fern to Australia and New Zealand. It usually grows in cool damp conditions, among rocks, on logs or as an epiphyte.

Contents

Description

Asplenium appendiculatum has foliage that is dark green, with blades that are 100-300 × 50–150 mm long, leathery and slightly drooping. [1] Blade is lanceolate (slightly wider at a short distance above the base, tapering to a point at the tip) to oblong (tapering at the ends but about the same width throughout) in shape. [1] Stipe (stalk below the blade) is 50–150 mm long is grooved, green above, brown below and scattered with narrow triangle scales. The rachis (stalk within the blade) is green, scaly and prominently ridged. [1] Pinnae (leaflets) are 8-20 alternate pairs, ranging from 30-100mm long × 5-30mm wide. Those at the base of the blade are ovate with those towards the tip, very narrowly ovate or elliptic. [1] They are often long and relatively undivided tips. Stalks are covered with tiny scales on the underside. [1] Pinnules at the base of the blade are narrowly elliptic and pinnate, up to 30 x 8mm. [1] Pinnules towards the tip of the blade are linear, entire and sessile. [1] Rhizomes (underground stems) are short and are covered with linear, tapering dark brown scales. [1] Each pinnule on a fertile frond has sori. They are sub marginal and 2-7mm, oblong in shape. [1] [2]

Asplenium appendiculatum frond from above (right) and below (left). Note the many sori. Asplenium appendiculatum Sori.jpg
Asplenium appendiculatum frond from above (right) and below (left). Note the many sori.

Asplenium appendiculatum is often confused with Asplenium bulbiferum , however lacks bulbils (vegetative clones of the fern). [3]

Taxonomy and Name

Both the common and scientific name ‘spleenwort’ is derived from Asplenium species being used under the doctrine of signatures, to treat ailments of the spleen. This was belief was based on the spleen shaped sori. ‘Wort’ is an ancient English term that means ‘plant’. The species name appendiculatum, is Latin for 'with appendages. [4]

Asplenium appendiculatum was formerly known as Asplenium terrestre, meaning ground dwelling. This name was derived from its terrestrial growth habit in New Zealand, where it was discovered by P. J. Brownsey in 1977. [5] [1] [6] It was once thought to be endemic to New Zealand. [5]

Taxonomy

A global phylogeny of Asplenium published in 2020 divided the genus into eleven clades, [7] which were given informal names pending further taxonomic study. A. appendiculatum belongs to the "Neottopteris clade", members of which generally have somewhat leathery leaf tissue. It forms a clade with A. flaccidum and A. chathamense . [8]

Habitat and distribution

Tasmania

In Tasmania Asplenium appendiculatum grows in wet sclerophyll forests, fern gullies and rocky outcrops on low mountain summits. [3] It often grows as an epiphyte on Dicksonia antarctica and on logs and other tree species. [1]

Victoria

Asplenium appendiculatum is rare in Victoria. It has been observed in the Victoria Range, Mt Mueller and Wilsons Promontory. [9]

New Zealand

In New Zealand, Asplenium appendiculatum grows in lowland to subalpine forested areas, but is also found in bluffs and rocky outcrops in grey scrub. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Asplenium platyneuron</i> Species of fern

Asplenium platyneuron, commonly known as ebony spleenwort or brownstem spleenwort, is a fern native to North America east of the Rocky Mountains. It takes its common name from its dark, reddish-brown, glossy stipe and rachis, which support a once-divided, pinnate leaf. The fertile fronds, which die off in the winter, are darker green and stand upright, while the sterile fronds are evergreen and lie flat on the ground. An auricle at the base of each pinna points towards the tip of the frond. The dimorphic fronds and alternate, rather than opposite, pinnae distinguish it from the similar black-stemmed spleenwort.

<i>Asplenium bulbiferum</i> Species of fern

Asplenium bulbiferum, known as mother spleenwort, is a fern species native to New Zealand only. It is also called hen and chicken fern and, in the Māori language, pikopiko, mouku or mauku. Its fronds are eaten as a vegetable.

<i>Asplenium rhizophyllum</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium rhizophyllum, the (American) walking fern, is a frequently-occurring fern native to North America. It is a close relative of Asplenium ruprechtii which is found in East Asia and also goes by the common name of "walking fern".

<i>Asplenium ruprechtii</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium ruprechtii, which goes by the common name Asian walking fern, is a rare, hardy, low-lying fern native to East Asia. It is a close relative of Asplenium rhizophyllum which is found in North America and also goes by the common name of walking fern. The species should not be confused with Asplenium sibiricum which is a synonym of Diplazium sibiricum.

<i>Asplenium trichomanes</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium trichomanes, the maidenhair spleenwort, is a small fern in the spleenwort genus Asplenium. It is a widespread and common species, occurring almost worldwide in a variety of rocky habitats. It is a variable fern with several subspecies.

<i>Asplenium septentrionale</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium septentrionale is a species of fern known by the common names northern spleenwort and forked spleenwort. It is native to Europe, Asia and western North America, where it grows on rocks. Its long, slender leaves give it a distinctive appearance. Three subspecies exist, corresponding to a tetraploid and a diploid cytotype and their triploid hybrid.

<i>Asplenium vespertinum</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium vespertinum is a species of fern known by the common name western spleenwort. It is native to southern California and Baja California, where it grows in moist, shady, rocky places, such as the shadows beneath cliff overhangs.

<i>Zealandia pustulata</i> Species of fern

Zealandia pustulata is a species of fern native to eastern Australia and New Zealand. It is commonly referred to as kangaroo fern because of its mature leaves tend to resemble the shape of a kangaroo foot. It is also referred to as hound's tongue, and as kōwaowao and pāraharaha in Māori.

<i>Asplenium flaccidum</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium flaccidum is a species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae. The plant common name is drooping spleenwort or weeping spleenwort, and the species name flaccidum derives from the Latin root meaning drooping. An example occurrence of A. flaccidum is within a Nothofagus-Podocarp forest at Hamilton Ecological District on New Zealand's North Island in association with other fern species understory plants, crown fern, Blechnum discolor being an example.

<i>Asplenium montanum</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium montanum, commonly known as the mountain spleenwort, is a small fern endemic to the eastern United States. It is found primarily in the Appalachian Mountains from Vermont to Alabama, with a few isolated populations in the Ozarks and in the Ohio Valley. It grows in small crevices in sandstone cliffs with highly acid soil, where it is usually the only vascular plant occupying that ecological niche. It can be recognized by its tufts of dark blue-green, highly divided leaves. The species was first described in 1810 by the botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow. No subspecies have been described, although a discolored and highly dissected form was reported from the Shawangunk Mountains in 1974. Asplenium montanum is a diploid member of the "Appalachian Asplenium complex," a group of spleenwort species and hybrids which have formed by reticulate evolution. Members of the complex descended from A. montanum are among the few other vascular plants that can tolerate its typical habitat.

<i>Asplenium pinnatifidum</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium pinnatifidum, commonly known as the lobed spleenwort or pinnatifid spleenwort, is a small fern found principally in the Appalachian Mountains and the Shawnee Hills, growing in rock crevices in moderately acid to subacid strata. Originally identified as a variety of walking fern, it was classified as a separate species by Thomas Nuttall in 1818. It is believed to have originated by chromosome doubling in a hybrid between walking fern and mountain spleenwort, producing a fertile tetraploid, a phenomenon known as alloploidy; however, the hypothesized parental hybrid has never been located. It is intermediate in morphology between the parent species: while its leaf blades are long and tapering like that of walking fern, the influence of mountain spleenwort means that the blades are lobed, rather than whole. A. pinnatifidum can itself form sterile hybrids with several other spleenworts.

<i>Asplenium bradleyi</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium bradleyi, commonly known as Bradley's spleenwort or cliff spleenwort, is a rare epipetric fern of east-central North America. Named after Professor Frank Howe Bradley, who first collected it in Tennessee, it may be found infrequently throughout much of the Appalachian Mountains, the Ozarks, and the Ouachita Mountains, growing in small crevices on exposed sandstone cliffs. The species originated as a hybrid between mountain spleenwort and ebony spleenwort ; A. bradleyi originated when that sterile diploid hybrid underwent chromosome doubling to become a fertile tetraploid, a phenomenon known as allopolyploidy. Studies indicate that the present population of Bradley's spleenwort arose from several independent doublings of sterile diploid hybrids. A. bradleyi can also form sterile hybrids with several other spleenworts.

<i>Asplenium anceps</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium anceps is a diploid fern of family Aspleniaceae and one of the ancestors of the ferns that form the trichomanes complex. It lives exclusively in the three northernmost archipelagoes of the Macaronesian region, that is, is an endemic macaronesian fern. Its fronds are leathery and plastic and rachis is very thick, bright reddish brown and is traversed throughout its length of three wings, two on the upper surface to draw a groove and a third on the lower surface which is characteristic and unique to this species, since all other species of the trichomanes complex without. A typical feature of this fern, which he shares with all its hybrid offspring is the existence of a small atrium on the basis of medium and less pinnae directed toward the apex of the blade with one or two sori on its underside.

<i>Asplenium viride</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium viride is a species of fern known as the green spleenwort because of its green stipes and rachides. This feature easily distinguishes it from the very similar-looking maidenhair spleenwort, Asplenium trichomanes.

<i>Asplenium resiliens</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium resiliens, the blackstem spleenwort or little ebony spleenwort, is a species of fern native to the Western Hemisphere, ranging from the southern United States south to Uruguay, including parts of the Caribbean. Found on limestone substrates, it is named for its distinctive purplish-black stipe and rachis. A triploid, it is incapable of sexual reproduction and produces spores apogamously. First described by Martens and Galeotti in 1842 under the previously used name Asplenium parvulum, the species was given its current, valid name by Kunze in 1844. Several similar species are known from the tropics; A. resiliens may have arisen from these species by reticulate evolution, but precise relationships among the group are not yet certain.

Asplenium × gravesii, commonly known as Graves' spleenwort, is a rare, sterile, hybrid fern, named for Edward Willis Graves (1882–1936). It is formed by the crossing of Bradley's spleenwort (A. bradleyi) with lobed spleenwort (A. pinnatifidum). It is only found where its parent species are both present; in practice, this proves to be a few scattered sites in the Appalachian Mountains, Shawnee Hills, and Ozarks, reaching perhaps its greatest local abundance around Natural Bridge State Resort Park. Like its parents, it prefers to grow in acid soil in the crevices of sandstone cliffs.

Asplenium × kentuckiense, commonly known as Kentucky spleenwort, is a rare, sterile, hybrid fern. It is formed by the crossing of lobed spleenwort (A. pinnatifidum) with ebony spleenwort (A. platyneuron). Found intermittently where the parent species grow together in the eastern United States, it typically grows on sandstone cliffs, but is known from other substrates as well.

<i>Asplenium surrogatum</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium surrogatum is a species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae. It is endemic to Australia's subtropical Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea. It grows both terrestrially and as an epiphyte. It occurs in forest at high elevations on the island's mountains.

<i>Asplenium fontanum</i> Species of fern native to Europe, the fountain spleenwort

Asplenium fontanum, commonly known as fountain spleenwort or smooth rock spleenwort, is a species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae, native to rocky areas in Western Europe.

<i>Asplenium hookerianum</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium hookerianum, commonly known as Hooker's spleenwort, rocklax and maidenhair fern, is a small fern native to New Zealand and Australia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 de Lange, P.J. (2018): Asplenium appendiculatum subsp. appendiculatum Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=2053 [Accessed 7 Mar. 2018].
  2. Spencer, R. (1995). Ferns, conifers & their allies. Sydney, NSW: University of New South Wales Press.
  3. 1 2 Garrett, Michael. & Tasmanian Forest Research Council. (1996). The Ferns of Tasmania : Their Ecology and Distribution. Hobart, Tas : Tasmanian Forest Research Council.
  4. Diggs, G.M. and Lipscomb, B.L. (2014). The Ferns and Lycophytes of Texas. Texas: Botanical Research Institute of Texas.
  5. 1 2 Duncan, B. and Isaac, G. (1986). Ferns and allied plants of Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Carlton: Melbourne University Press in assoc. with Monash University.
  6. Goudey, C. (1989). A handbook of ferns for Australia and New Zealand. Melbourne: Lothian Publishing Company Pty. Ltd.
  7. Xu et al. 2020, p. 27.
  8. Xu et al. 2020, p. 31.
  9. Messina, A. (2014). Asplenium appendiculatum subsp. appendiculatum. [online] Flora of Victoria. Available at: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/9f246d9f-8982-4c1f-9803-9baa656c9553 [Accessed 8 Mar. 2018].