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Asplenium pinnatifidum
Also called Pinnatifid Spleenwort
Lobed spleenwort is a small evergreen fern from the eastern United States that grows in rock crevices on acidic sandstone in the Appalachians and nearby hills. It is grown in rock gardens and terraria, where it needs a moist, slightly acidic, gritty mix.
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 (Asplenium rhizophyllum), 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 (Asplenium montanum), 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.
A. pinnatifidum can be cultivated in rock gardens and terraria. It prefers medium light and will grow on a moist soil or potting mixture. Some authorities recommend adding sandstone chips to the soil.
Native to eastern North America, A. pinnatifidum occurs in the middle and southern Appalachian Mountains, from Pennsylvania and New Jersey southwest to Alabama and the northeastern corner of Mississippi. It is also found in the Shawnee Hills and to some extent in the Ozarks, with outlying occurrences in southeastern Oklahoma and in Iowa County, Wisconsin. Early reports from New England proved to be variants of Scott's spleenwort, Asplenium × ebenoides.
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 pinnatifidum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
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.
