| Rustyback Fern | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Division: | Polypodiophyta |
| Class: | Polypodiopsida |
| Order: | Polypodiales |
| Suborder: | Aspleniineae |
| Family: | Aspleniaceae |
| Genus: | Asplenium |
| Species: | A. ceterach |
| Binomial name | |
| Asplenium ceterach | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Asplenium ceterach, also known as the rustyback fern, is a fern species in the spleenwort family Aspleniaceae. [3]
Asplenium ceterach is a perennial and evergreen fern species characterized by its compact size and robust, intricately divided fronds, measuring up to 20 cm (7.9 in) in length. [4] The undersides of these fronds are covered in a dense layer of pale reddish-brown scales, from which the common name originates. [4] The leaves roll up in the summer, showing just the scaly undersides. [5]
Asplenium ceterach has a large Western and Central European distribution, where it is located in the countries of: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Crimea, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland. The species is also native to the European island territories of: Baleares, Corsica, Crete, Sardinia and Scilly. It can also be found within the North Caucasus region and European Turkey. A. ceterach is believed to be locally extinct in Poland. [6]
Within Asia Asplenium ceterach can be found within the countries of: Afghanistan, China, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, Israel, Tadzhikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan. The species has a range extending throughout the Transcaucasus region which extends along the West Himalayas where the species can also be found in Tibet. [6]
The African range of Asplenium ceterach includes several countries within North Africa. These countries include Algeria, Djibouti, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. [6] Just off the coast of Africa the species can also be found living on the Canary Islands. [7]
Asplenium ceterach is associated with fissure habitat in carbonate rocks and also grows on the mortar of stone and brick walls. The species can be found growing up to 2,700 m (8,900 ft) above the sea level, although it prefers mountainous locations, where it is usually found growing on rocky walls and slopes in full sun.
Unlike many others, this fern likes growing in full sun, and requires little, if any, humidity. [8]
Asplenium ceterach exhibits polyploidy within the species with populations in different regions possessing various levels of diploid, tetraploid and hexapoloid forms. [4] Many of these forms are treated as respective subspecies. [4] The following subspecies are recognised: [6]
| Subspecies | Polyploidy | Range |
|---|---|---|
| A. ceterach ssp. ceterach | tetraploid | Occurring throughout the species range from Europe to Tibet. Also present in North Africa. |
| A. ceterach ssp. bivalens | diploid | Central and Eastern Europe: Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Italy, Greece, Turkey. |
| A. ceterach ssp. cyprium | Native to Mediterranean Europe and North Africa: Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Sardinia, Sicilia, Spain, Tunisia. | |
| A. ceterach subsp. mediterraneum | Native to Greece. |
The species also possesses naturally occurring hybrid nothospecies: [6]
| Nothospecies | Polyploidy | Range | Hybrid Formula |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. ceterach nothosubsp. mantoniae | Eastern Central and Southern Europe to South Turkey. | A. ceterach subsp. bivalens × A. ceterach subsp. ceterach | |
| A. ceterach nothosubsp. troodeum | Native to Mediterranean Europe: Cyprus, Italy, Scilly. | A. ceterach subsp. ceterach × A. ceterach subsp. cyprium |
Linnaeus was the first to describe rustyback with the binomial Asplenium ceterach in his Species Plantarum of 1753. [9]
A global phylogeny of Asplenium published in 2020 divided the genus into eleven clades, [10] which were given informal names pending further taxonomic study. A. scolopendrium belongs to the "Ceterach subclade" of the "Phyllitis clade". [11] Members of the Phyllitis clade have undivided or pinnatifid leaf blades with a thick, leathery texture, persistent scales on their stalk, and often possess anastomosing veins. Members of the Ceterach subclade have pinnatifid leaves, usually with a thick covering of hairs and/or scales and irregularly anastomosing veins. [12]
Asplenium ceterach has been traditionally used as a medicinal herb. The plant has been historically utilized to treat a large variety of health problems in humans. A. ceterach extract has been used as a mucoactive agent, diuretic and laxative. [13] A. ceterach was also used to treat kidney stones, spleen issues, haemorrhoids and intestinal disorders. [14] The plant has even been used to treat respiratory disorders and hypertension. [14]
Extracts created from A. ceterach display anticancer properties. [14] Extracts possess a selective inhibitory effect against cervical cancer cells and a low cytotoxicity towards healthy non-cancerous cells in humans. [14]
This fern is well known as a resurrection plant due to its ability to withstand desiccation and subsequently recover on rewetting. It has been shown that this is in part due to its high concentrations of phenolic compounds such as chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid which allow it to negate the destructive capacity of the reactive oxygen species generated by the drying process; the concentrations of these phenols decrease during the dehydration process. Enzymes such as peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase have also been shown to be important in allowing this fern to cope with desiccation; the concentrations of these enzymes increase when the fern is subjected to water shortages. [15]
Asplenium is a genus of about 700 species of ferns, often treated as the only genus in the family Aspleniaceae, though other authors consider Hymenasplenium separate, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences, a different chromosome count, and structural differences in the rhizomes. The type species for the genus is Asplenium marinum.
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.
Asplenium nidus is an epiphytic species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae, native to tropical southeastern Asia, eastern Australia, Hawaii, Polynesia, Christmas Island, India, and eastern Africa. It is known by the common names bird's-nest fern or simply nest fern.
Asplenium scolopendrium, commonly known as the hart's-tongue fern, is an evergreen fern in the family Aspleniaceae native to the Northern Hemisphere.
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.
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".
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.
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.
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.
Asplenium australasicum, the bird's nest fern or crow's nest fern, is an epiphytic Australasian 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.
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.
Asplenium antiquum is a fern of the family Aspleniaceae, commonly known as bird's-nest ferns. In Japanese, it is known by ō-tani-watari and tani-watari. It grows on cliffs, logs and rocks, near waterfalls, in damp forests, and on tree trunks in China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. It is classified as an endangered species in both South Korea and Japan.
Asplenium ruta-muraria is a species of fern commonly known as wall-rue. It is a very small epipetric species, growing exclusively on limestone and other calcareous rocks. Its fronds are bluish-green and are heavily sub-divided, becoming up to 12 cm in length.
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.
Asplenium goudeyi is a fern only found on Lord Howe Island. A common plant growing in a variety of situations. On trees, or rocks, boulders, cliff faces and sometimes in exposed positions. The wavy edged fronds are 50 to 75 cm long, and 12 to 18 cm wide.
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.
Asplenium × trudellii, commonly known as Trudell's spleenwort, is a rare hybrid fern of the eastern United States, first described in 1925. It is formed by the crossing of mountain spleenwort (A. montanum) with lobed spleenwort (A. pinnatifidum). Trudell's spleenwort is intermediate in form between its two parents, and is generally found near them, growing on exposed outcrops of acidic rock. While A. × trudellii is triploid and sterile, there is some evidence that it can occasionally reproduce apogamously.
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.
Asplenium haughtonii, also known as the Barn fern, is a species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae. It is native to Saint Helena.
