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.
Alsophila atropurpurea, synonym Cyathea atropurpurea, is a species of tree fern native to the islands of Luzon, Mindanao, Leyte and Mindanao in the Philippines, where it grows in forest at above 1000 m. The erect trunk is slender and may be up to 3 m tall. Fronds are bipinnate and 1–2 m long. Characteristically of this species, the final pair of pinnae are usually reduced and occur towards the base of the stipe. These, along with the stipe bases, are persistent and retained around the trunk long after withering. The stipe itself is dark and covered with scales, which are either small, dull and brown or large, dark and glossy. Sori occur near the midvein of fertile pinnules and lack indusia. Fertile pinnules are notably smaller than sterile ones.
Alsophila capensis, synonym Cyathea capensis, is a regionally widespread and highly variable species of tree fern. It is indigenous to Southern Africa and South America.
Alsophila grevilleana, synonym Cyathea grevilleana, is a species of tree fern endemic to Jamaica, where it grows in moist gullies and on wooded hills in both calcareous and noncalcareous soils at an altitude of 200–1200 m. The trunk of this plant is erect, about 7 m tall, and 10–15 cm in diameter. It is characteristically clothed in old stipe bases, brown scales and blackish spines. Fronds are tripinnate, dark green in colour, and up to 4 m in length. The last pinnae are sometimes separated, forming a distinctive clump around the trunk apex. The rachis is yellow-brown and almost smooth. This species has a long, dark brown stipe with a few scattered spines. Sori are produced in four to six pairs along the pinnule midvein. They are protected by pale brown indusia that are cup-like in appearance.
Myriopteris clevelandii, formerly known as Cheilanthes clevelandii, is a species of lip fern known by the common name Cleveland's lip fern. It is native to southern California and Baja California in Mexico. The leaf is divided into small, bead-like segments densely covered with scales beneath. In M. clevelandii, some of these scales are reduced to hairlike structures, which help distinguish it from the closely related M. covillei. It is usually found growing on exposed rock, particularly igneous rock.
Dryopteris goldieana, commonly called Goldie's wood fern, or giant wood fern is a fern native to the eastern United States and adjacent areas of Canada, from New Brunswick to Ontario and Georgia. It is the largest native North American species of Dryopteris and along with ostrich fern it is one of the largest ferns in eastern North America. Specimens are known with fronds six feet tall. D. goldieana hybridizes with many other species of Dryopteris and the hybrids tend to be larger than the pure species. It was named by William Hooker in honor of its discoverer, John Goldie. The epithet was originally published as goldiana, but this is regarded as a misspelling to be corrected.
Amauropelta noveboracensis, the New York fern, is a perennial species of fern found throughout the eastern United States and Canada, from Louisiana to Newfoundland, but most concentrated within Appalachia and the Atlantic Northeast. New York ferns often forms spreading colonies within the forests they inhabit.
Parablechnum wattsii, synonym Blechnum wattsii, is a common terrestrial fern growing in rainforest and open forest. It is often seen near creeks in much of south eastern Australia, including Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. The specific epithet wattsii honours William Walter Watts (1856-1920). Watts was considered an authority on mosses and ferns and has more than 30 species named for him. Common names by which the species may be called are hard water fern - from its stiff leathery fronds, leech fern - as forest workers often encounter leaches while working in clusters of these ferns, hard hill fern - from the fern's habit and habitat, and red cabbage fern - from the bronze-pink colour of the young fronds resembling cooked red cabbage.
Lomaria nuda, commonly known as the fishbone waterfern, is a fern that grows up to a metre tall, and is abundant in rainforest and eucalyptus forests in eastern Australia. The species is placed in the genus Lomaria in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016, but is often retained in genus Blechnum as Blechnum nudum.
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.
Diplazium australe, commonly known as the Austral lady fern, is a small fern occurring in eastern Australia, New Zealand and Norfolk Island. The habitat is moist shaded areas, often occurring in rainforest.
Histiopteris incisa, the bat's wing fern, water fern or fern mata, is a common plant found in Australia, New Zealand and other islands in the south Pacific region. Usually found in moist areas, where it may form large colonies. The lowermost lobes of each pinnae have a bat wing like appearance, giving the fern its common name.
Lygodium japonicum is a species of fern that is known by the common names vine-like fern and Japanese climbing fern. It is native to eastern Asia, including Taiwan, Japan, Korea, southeastern Asia, and India, and eastern Australia. The fern is present in the southeastern United States and Puerto Rico as an introduced species.
Anchistea is a genus of leptosporangiate ferns in the family Blechnaceae. It has only one species, Anchistea virginica the Virginia chain fern, which has long creeping, scaly, underground stems or rhizomes giving rise to tall widely separated, deciduous, single leaves. In contrast, the leaves of Osmundastrum cinnamomeum, which can be mistaken for A. virginica, grow in a group from a crown. Also in contrast to O. cinnamomeum the leaves are monomorphic without distinct fertile fronds. The lower petiole or stipe is dark purple to black, shiny and swollen, the upper rachis is dull green. The leaf blade is green and lanceolate, composed of 12 to 23 paired, alternate pinnatifid pinnae. The pinnae are subdivided into 15 to 20 paired segments that are ovate to oblong. The lower rachis is naked for about half its length. The sori or spore-producing bodies are found on the underside of the pinnae and are long and form a double row which outlines the major veins of the pinnae. In common with all ferns, A. virginica exhibits a gametophyte stage in its life cycle and develops a haploid reproductive prothallus as an independent plant. The spores are produced in red-brown sori which line the spaces (areolae) between the costa and costules. Further photographs can be found at the Connecticut Botanical Society and Ontario Ferns websites.
Asplenium tutwilerae is a rare epipetric fern found only in Hale County, Alabama, United States. A. tutwilerae is a fertile allotetraploid, formed by the chromosomal doubling of a specimen of the sterile diploid A. × ebenoides, a hybrid of A. platyneuron and A. rhizophyllum. Except for its spores, which are fertile rather than malformed, A. tutwilerae is essentially identical to A. × ebenoides and was described as part of that species until 2007. It is named in honor of Julia Tutwiler, who discovered the only known wild population at Havana Glen in 1873.
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.
Myriopteris aemula, the Texas lip fern or rival lip fern, is a moderately-sized fern of Texas and Mexico, a member of the family Pteridaceae. Unlike many members of its genus, its leaves have a few hairs on upper and lower surfaces, or lack them entirely. One of the cheilanthoid ferns, it was usually classified in the genus Cheilanthes as Cheilanthes aemula until 2013, when the genus Myriopteris was again recognized as separate from Cheilanthes. It typically grows on limestone rock.
Hymenophyllum rarum, the narrow filmy-fern, is a species of fern from the family Hymenophyllaceae. This thin-leaved fern is commonly found in New Zealand and Tasmania, growing in patches on rocks and is epiphytic on trees and tree ferns, growing in moist gullies or rainforests. A rather drought tolerant species often found at exposed sites ranging from coastal to montane areas. Forming extensive, interwoven and creeping patches with its thin long (creeping) rhizomes sparsely covered in red-brown hairs, easily recognised by its membranous grey-green fronds, the smooth margins of the pinnae, ultimate segments and indusia; and by the sunken sori in the uppermost segments of the uppermost pinnae. The species can be found throughout Tasmanian rainforests as well as occurring in New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand on the North and South Islands as well as, Stewart, Chatham and Auckland Islands.
Sticherus tener, also known as silky fan-fern, is a common native ground-fern in the family Gleicheniaceae. It occurs growing along watercourses and drainage lines in rainforest that are dominated by Nothofagus cunninghamii. In Australia, it occurs in the states of Tasmania and Victoria. In New Zealand, it is known from two disjoint regions on the South Island. Like in other members of this genus, Sticherus tener have bright green fronds with repeatedly forking branches, branches bearing linear-shaped segments at almost right angles to the axis and form umbrella-like bush colony.
Myriopteris rufa, commonly known as Eaton's lip fern, is a moderately-sized fern of Mexico and the southwestern United States, with outlying populations in Costa Rica and the Appalachian Mountains. One of the cheilanthoid ferns, it was usually classified in the genus Cheilanthes, as Cheilanthes eatonii, until 2013, when the genus Myriopteris was again recognized as separate from Cheilanthes. It typically grows in rocky habitats, most frequently on limestone but also sometimes on basalt or shale.
