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.
Osmunda regalis, or royal fern, is a species of deciduous fern, native to Europe, Africa and Asia, growing in woodland bogs and on the banks of streams. The species is sometimes known as flowering fern due to the appearance of its fertile fronds.
Polystichum acrostichoides, commonly denominated Christmas fern, is a perennial, evergreen fern native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota and south to Florida and eastern Texas. It is one of the most common ferns in eastern North America, being found in moist and shady habitats in woodlands, stream banks and rocky slopes. The common name derives from the evergreen fronds, which are often still green at Christmas.
Ceratopteris is the only genus among homosporous ferns that is exclusively aquatic. It is pan-tropical and classified in the Parkerioideae subfamily of the family Pteridaceae.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Adiantum viridimontanum, commonly known as Green Mountain maidenhair fern, is a fern found only in outcrops of serpentine rock in New England and Eastern Canada. The leaf blade is cut into finger-like segments, themselves once-divided, which are borne on the outer side of a curved, dark, glossy rachis. These finger-like segments are not individual leaves, but parts of a single compound leaf. The "fingers" may be drooping or erect, depending on whether the individual fern grows in shade or sunlight. Spores are borne under false indusia at the edge of the subdivisions of the leaf, a characteristic unique to the genus Adiantum.
Asplenium × ebenoides is a hybrid fern native to eastern North America, part of the "Appalachian Asplenium complex" of related hybrids. The sterile offspring of the walking fern (A. rhizophyllum) and the ebony spleenwort (A. platyneuron), A. × ebenoides is intermediate in morphology between its two parents, combining the long, narrow blade of A. rhizophyllum with a dark stem and lobes or pinnae similar to those of A. platyneuron. While A. × ebenoides is generally sterile, fertile specimens with double the number of chromosomes are known from Havana Glen, Alabama. These fertile allotetraploids were reclassified as a separate species named A. tutwilerae in 2007, retaining the name A. × ebenoides for the sterile diploids only.
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 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.
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.
Acrostichum aureum, the golden leather fern, is a large species of fern that grows in mangrove swamps and other wet locations. Other common names include swamp fern and mangrove fern.
Asplenium × boydstoniae, commonly known as Boydston's spleenwort, is a rare, sterile, hybrid fern. It is formed by the crossing of Tutwiler's spleenwort (A. tutwilerae) with ebony spleenwort (A. platyneuron). The hybrid was produced in culture in 1954. It was not discovered in the wild until 1971, when it was found by Kerry S. Walter at Havana Glen, Alabama, the only known wild site for Tutwiler's spleenwort. Walter named it for Kathryn E. Boydston, an expert in fern culture. Except for the tip of its leaf blade, it largely resembles its ebony spleenwort parent.
Lygodium articulatum, commonly referred to as mangemange or Bushman's mattress, is a fern endemic to the North Island forests of New Zealand. Mangemange is an endemic species and is unique compared to other ferns in the area due to the vine–like curtain it creates in the canopy. Although the majority of the plant is found in the canopy of the surrounding forest, the roots and stem of mangemange form on the ground, meaning it cannot be classified as an epiphyte.
Myriopteris alabamensis, the Alabama lip fern, is a moderately-sized fern of the United States 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 alabamensis until 2013, when the genus Myriopteris was again recognized as separate from Cheilanthes. It typically grows in shade on limestone outcrops.
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.
Myriopteris chipinquensis is a fern endemic to Mexico, a member of the family Pteridaceae. One of the cheilanthoid ferns, it was classified in the genus Cheilanthes until 2013, when the genus Myriopteris was again recognized as separate from Cheilanthes. It grows in oak-pine forests of the Sierra Madre Oriental, often with the very similar and closely related Myriopteris tomentosa.
