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Asplenium montanum
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.
Asplenium montanum may be cultivated outdoors or in a terrarium. In either case, the soil used should be amended with chips of acidic rock.
One of the "Appalachian spleenworts", A. montanum is found in the Appalachian Mountains from Vermont and Massachusetts southwestward to Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, and to a lesser extent in the Ohio Valley in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. Arkansas populations were discovered in Garland County and Stone County in 2002 and 2008, respectively. One outlying population in Missouri, collected in 1960, is considered historical; it is represented by one specimen collected near Graham Cave and has never been relocated. The site is thought to have been destroyed by road construction. A collection by Farwell from the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan was considered valid by M. L. Fernald, but is of questionable authenticity; the population has never been relocated.
Black spleenwort · Asplenium aequibasis · Egyptian spleenwort · Asplenium anceps · Bird’s Nest Fern · Asplenium appendiculatum · Asplenium arcanum · Fern · Asplenium attenuatum · Eared Spleenwort · Bird's Nest Fern · Azorean Spleenwort
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Asplenium montanum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
