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Asplenium tutwilerae
Also called Dragontail Fern, Tutwiler's Spleenwort
Asplenium tutwilerae (Tutwiler's spleenwort or Scott's fertile spleenwort) 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.
The plant is sometimes cultivated as a greenhouse or garden ornamental. It can be grown in moist potting mix, and prefers medium light and high humidity. The A. × ebenoides sold commercially, if grown from spores, is in fact A. tutwilerae. A detailed report on the cultivation of A. tutwilerae from spores (under the name of A. ebenoides) was published in 1949. The spores were sown on peat without sterilization and developed, under glass, in a warm room. Young sporophytes, with a part of the gametophyte, were transferred to a sterile mixture of loam, bone meal, aged cow manure, crumbled plaster (to provide calcium), crushed charcoal, and gravel. They were kept at all times above 70 °F (21 °C) and watered sparingly with rain water.
Asplenium tutwilerae is only found in Havana Glen and some of the small neighboring ravines. As of 1982, 200 to 300 individuals were believed to grow in Havana Glen proper.
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 tutwilerae 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.
