Asplenium formosum

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Aspleniaceae

Plants terrestrial , on rock, or rarely epiphytic. Stems erect or nearly erect, rarely long-creeping, scaly . Steles radially symmetric or dorsiventral (with structurally distinct abaxial and adaxial aspects ) dictyosteles. Leaves monomorphic , rarely almost dimorphic with fertile leaves taller and more erect than sterile ones. Petioles with 1 vascular bundle X-shaped in cross section or with 2 vascular bundles back to back and C-shaped. Blades extremely diverse , simple to 4-pinnate, commonly with tiny glandular hairs and a few linear scales , rarely with spreading hairs. Veins free to anastomosing. Sori borne on veins, ± lunate to linear . Indusia usually present, shape conforming to sorus and originating along 1 side of sorus. Sporangia with stalk of 1 row of cells , annulus vertical , interrupted by sporangial stalk. Spores monolete; perispore typically winged , spiny , reticulate , or perforate . Gametophytes surficial , green, cordate.

Genera 1, species ca. 700 (1 genus, 28 species, and 3 nothospecies in the flora ) : worldwide.

Members of this family can usually be identified by the combination of clathrate stem scales and indusiate linear sori. Supporting anatomic characteristics include the two vascular bundles in the petiole that unite distally in the petiole to form an X-shaped petiolar strand , and the single row of cells in the sporangial stalk. The scales consist of cells with dark, thick, radial walls and clear, thin, tangential walls, giving the scales a clathrate (latticelike) appearance reminiscent of lead moldings between plates of stained glass.

As construed here, Aspleniaceae comprise a single, huge, extremely diverse genus, Asplenium . A satisfactory taxonomic division into subgenera or satellite genera has not been possible because of the absence of any significant gaps . Various segregates have been proposed (e.g. , Camptosorus, Phyllitis, Ceterach, Pleurosorus ), but numerous "intergeneric" hybrids occur.

The members of Asplenium are popular with plant evolutionists, field naturalists, and fern gardeners, not only because of the interesting morphology of the plants but also because of their remarkable ability to form spectacular hybrids, often combining dramatically different leaf shapes. In North America, 23 diploid hybrids and allopolyploids have been recorded. At least two of these hybrid combinations occur as both sterile diploids and their fertile allotetraploid derivatives. Only those hybrids that are reproductively competent (through vigorous clone-forming by root proliferations or apogamy, or rarely through sexual reproduction) are treated in the key and fully described below.

Only about two-fifths of the reproductively competent species are believed to be cladistically divergent species; the other three-fifths are of hybrid origin (allopolyploids) . For two of the allotetraploids, sterile diploids of the same parentage are also known. The most unusual allopolyploid phytogeographically is Asplenium adiantum-nigrum, the parents of which are known only in the Old World. These reticulate relationships are summarized in the reticulogram.

Polyploidy is widespread in Asplenium, and the chromosome numbers vary from 2 x to 6 x . Two species, Asplenium trichomanes and A . heterochroum, occur in different levels of polyploidy---2 x and 4 x, and 4 x and 6 x, respectively. The highest chromosome number known for Asplenium in North America is 2 n = 216 (in A . trichomanes-dentatum and the hexaploid form of A . heterochroum ) . The only three apogamous taxa are A . monanthes (3 x ), A . resiliens (3 x ), and A . × heteroresiliens (5 x ) .[1]

Genus Asplenium

Roots fibrous , not proliferous or proliferous and producing tiny plantlets . Stems erect , rarely long-creeping; scales basally attached, clathrate. Petioles not articulate . Blades 1--4-pinnate, of diverse size and shape . Indusia present. x = 36.

Species ca. 700 (28 species, 3 nothosp: worldwide.[2]

Physical Description

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,936 meters (0 to 16,194 feet).[3]

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Chamaefilix formosa (Willd.) Farw.

Notes

Publishing author : Willd. Publication : Sp. Pl., ed. 4 [Willdenow] 5: 329 1810

Similar Species

Members of the genus Asplenium

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 165 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

A. abscissum (Abscised Spleenwort) · A. acuminatum (Taper-Tip Spleenwort) · A. adiantum-nigrum (Black Spleenwort) · A. adiantum-nigrum woronowii (Black Spleenwort) · A. adulterinum (Ladder Spleenwort) · A. aethiopicum (Egyptian Spleenwort) · A. alternifolium (Alternateleaf Spleenwort) · A. auriculatum (Tree-Trunk Spleenwort) · A. auritum (Auricled Spleenwort) · A. auritum Sw. var. auritum Sw. (Eared Spleenwort) · A. auritum Sw. var. bipinnatifidum Kunze (Eared Spleenwort) · A. auritum var. auritum (Eared Spleenwort) · A. auritum var. bipinnatifidum (Eared Spleenwort) · A. australasicum (Birds Nest Fern) · A. australasicum forma australasicum (Bird´s-Nest Fern) · A. australasicum f. robinsonii (Bird´s-Nest Fern) · A. biscaynianum (Biscayne Spleenwort) · A. boydstoniae (Boydston's Spleenwort) · A. bradleyi (Bradley's Spleenwort) · A. bulbiferum (Hen and Chickens Fern) · A. caudatum (Speenwort) · A. ceterach (Rusty-Back Fern) · A. cirrhatum (Chestnut Scale Spleenwort) · A. clermontiae (Clermont's Spleenwort) · A. contiguum (Forest Spleenwort) · A. contiguum Kaulf. var. contiguum Kaulf. (Forest Spleenwort) · A. contiguum Kaulf. var. hirtulum C.Chr. (Forest Spleenwort) · A. contiguum var. contiguum (Forest Spleenwort) · A. contiguum var. hirtulum (Forest Spleenwort) · A. corderoanum (Rio Abajo Spleenwort) · A. cristatum (Parsley Spleenwort) · A. cuneatum (Wedge-Leaf Spleenwort) · A. curtissii (Curtiss' Spleenwort) · A. dalhousiae (Countess Dalhousie's Spleenwort) · A. densum (Dense Spleenwort) · A. ebenoides (Dragon Tails Fern) · A. enatum (Queen Spleenwort) · A. esculentum (Vegetable Fern) · A. exiguum (Little Spleenwort) · A. feei (Fee's Spleenwort) · A. flabellifolium (Necklace Fern) · A. flabellulatum (Latin American Spleenwort) · A. flaccidum (Weeping Spleenwort) · A. flaccidum flaccidum (Weeping Spleenwort) · A. formosum (Showy Spleenwort) · A. goudeyi (Birds Nest Fern) · A. gravesii (Graves' Spleenwort) · A. haleakalense (Haleakala Spleenwort) · A. herb-wagneri (Herb's Spleenwort) · A. heterochroum (Bicolored Spleenwort) · A. heteroresiliens (Resilient Spleenwort) · A. hobdyi (Hobdy's Spleenwort) · A. horridum (Lacy Spleenwort) · A. inexpectatum (Spleenwort) · A. insiticium (Royal Spleenwort) · A. juglandifolium (Walnut Spleenwort) · A. kaulfussii (Kaulfuss Spleenwort) · A. kentuckiense (Kentucky Spleenwort) · A. laetum (Brownstem Spleenwort) · A. lobulatum (Piipiilau Manamana) · A. macraei (Macrae's Spleenwort) · A. monanthes (Single-Sorus Spleenwort) · A. montanum (Mountain Spleenwort) · A. morganii (Morgan's Spleenwort) · A. myriophyllum (Limestone Spleenwort) · A. neobrackenridgei (Neobrackenridge's Spleenwort) · A. nidus (Bird's Nest Fern) · A. nidus var. plicatum (Bird's Nest Fern) · A. nidus 'Antiquum' (Japanese Birds Nest) · A. nidus 'Osaka' (Osaka Bird's Nest Fern) · A. nidus 'Ruffled' (Ruffled Birds Nest Fern) · A. nodosum (Nodeless Danafern) · A. normale (Rainforest Spleenwort) · A. oblongifolium (Shining Spleenwort) · A. obtusatum (Shore Spleenwort) · A. obtusifolium (Bluntleaf Spleenwort) · A. ocoense (Rockledge Spleenwort) · A. palmeri (Palmer Spleenwort) · A. patens (Spreading Spleenwort) · A. pinnatifidum (Lobed Spleenwort) · A. platyneuron (Ebony Spleenwort) · A. platyneuron var. bacculum-rubrum (Ebony Spleenwort) · A. platyneuron var. platyneuron (Ebony Spleenwort) · A. platyneuron var. proliferum (Ebony Spleenwort) · A. plenum (Ruffled Spleenwort) · A. polyodon (Petako) · A. polyodon G.Forst. var. knudsenii (Hbd.) Morton (Knudsen's Birdnest Fern) · A. polyodon G.Forst. var. nitidulum (Skottsb.) Morton (Birdnest Fern) · A. polyodon G.Forst. var. sectum (Hbd.) Morton (Birdnest Fern) · A. polyodon G.Forst. var. subcaudatum (Skottsb.) Morton (Birdnest Fern) · A. polyodon var. knudsenii (Knudsen's Birdnest Fern) · A. polyodon var. nitidulum (Birdnest Fern) · A. polyodon var. sectum (Birdnest Fern) · A. polyodon var. subcaudatum (Birdnest Fern) · A. pseudoerectum (Antilles Spleenwort) · A. pteropus (West Indian Spleenwort) · A. pumilum (Dwarf Spleenwort) · A. radicans (Dullgreen Spleenwort) · A. resiliens (Black-Stem Spleenwort) · A. rhizophyllum (Walking Fern)

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Further Reading

• A contribution to the flora of Honduras, by T. G. Yuncker. 17 1938 Chicago, 1938. url p. 301.
• A geographical handbook of all the known ferns; with tables to show their distribution, London, J. Murray, 1870. url , , , .
• A systematic catalogue of the flowering plants and ferns indigenous to or growing wild in Ceylon. Colombo: G. J. A. Skeen, 1885. url .
• Album of Indian ferns: reproduced in chromo-lithography from original water-colour drawings / by C.E. Baynes. 1887 London: W. Day, 1887. url .
• Biologia centrali-americana; or, Contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America. London, Pub. for the editors by R. H. Porter and Dulau & co., 1879-88. url .
• Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: The Museum, 1951-1992. url p. 135, p. 240, p. 243, p. 49.
• Bulletin of the Natural History Museum. London: The Natural History Museum, c1993-2002. url p. 49, p. 65, p. 83.
• Catalogue of the African plants London, Printed by order of the Trustees, 1896-1901. url .
• Catalogue of the African plants collected by Dr. Friedrich Welwitsch in 1853-61. .. London, Printed by order of the Trustees, 1896-1901. url p. 270.
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 17 1913-1916 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 136, p. 147, p. 148.
• Contributions from the University of Michigan Herbarium. 8 1942 Ann Arbor: University Herbarium, University of Michigan, 1939- url p. 9.
• Ferns and fern allies of Guatemala. Robert G. Stolze; the genus Elaphoglossum by: John T. Mickel; the genus Thelypteris by: Alan R. Smith. 6 1981 Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, 1981. url p. 72.
• Ferns and fern culture: their native habitats, organisation, habits of growth, compost for different genera; cultivation in pots, baskets, rockwork, walls; in stove, greenhouse, dwelling-house, and outdoor ferneries; potting Manchester, Eng.; [etc., etc.]The author[1892] url .
• Ferns in their homes and ours / by John Robinson. Boston: Whidden, 1894, c1878. url p. 143.
• Ferns: British and exotic... London, Groombridge and Sons, 1856-60. url , p. 122, p. 235.
• Flora of the Aguan valley and the coastal regions near La Ceiba, Honduras, by T. G. Yuncker. 9 1940 [Chicago]1940. url p. 253.
• Flora of the Lancetilla Valley, Honduras, by Paul C. Standley. 10 1931 Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History, 1931. url p. 67.
• Handbook to the ferns of British India, Ceylon and the Malay peninsula; with supplement, Calcutta, Thacker, Spink;1892. url p. 152.
• Index filicum: a synopsis, with characters, of the genera, and an enumeration of the species of ferns, with synonymes, references, &c., &c. London, W. Pamplin, 1857-62. url , , p. 138, p. 151, p. 170, p. 340.
• Journal of botany, British and foreign. 21 1883 London: Robert Hardwicke, 1863-1942. url p. 245.
• Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History. 16 1989 San Diego, Calif.: The Society, 1931-1989. url p. 22.
• Phytologia memoirs. Plainfield, N.J.: H.N. Moldenke and A.L. Moldenke, 1980- url p. 14.
• Phytologia. Bronx Park, New York, H.A. Gleason and H.N. Moldenke, url p. 94.
• Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Washington, Biological Society of Washington url p. 174.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. url , p. 48.
• Pteridophyta of Peru. Rolla M. Tryon, Robert G. Stolze; with the collaboration of Blanca León. 32 1993 Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, 1993. url p. 14.
• Some observations concerning the botanical conditions on the Galapagos Islands. Madison, Wis., 1916 url p. 281, p. 306, p. 331.
• Studies in natural history. Iowa City, Ia. url p. 208.
• Synopsis filicum; or, A synopsis of all known ferns, including the Osmundaceæ, Schizæsveæ, Marattiaceæ, and Ophioglossaceæ (chiefly derived from the Kew herbarium). Accompanied by figures representing the essential character of each genus. By the late Sir William Jackson Hooker. .. and John Gilbert Baker. London, R. Hardwicke, 1868. url p. 210.
• The Floral world and garden guide. London, Groombridge and Sons, 1858-1880. url p. 105.
• The Garden: an illustrated weekly journal of gardening in all its branches. London: [s.n., url p. 184, p. 229, p. 380, p. 421, p. 78.
• The Gardeners' chronicle: a weekly illustrated journal of horticulture and allied subjects. London: [Gardeners Chronicle], 1874-1955. url p. 252, p. 309, p. 355, p. 422, p. 558, p. 585, p. 700.
• The Journal of horticulture, cottage gardener and country gentlemen. London: George W. Johnson and Robert Hogg, 1861-1877. url p. 186, p. 193, p. 241, p. 291, p. 715.
• The century supplement to the dictionary of gardening, a practical and scientific encyclopaedia of horticulture for gardeners and botanists / by Geo. Nicholson. .. [et al.]. Hyde Park, Mass.: Geo. T. King; 1901. url p. 102.
• The fern garden: how to make, keep, and enjoy it; or, Fern culture made easy / by Shirley Hibberd. London: W.H. and L. Collingridge, [1894] url p. 117.
• The fern manual: Being a description of all the best stove, greenhouse, and hardy ferns, cultivated in British gardens / with instructions for their cultivation and treatment both on a large scale and in fern cases, by contributors to the Journal of horticulture. Illus. with numerous engravings. London: Journal of horticulture & Cottage gardener, 1863. url .
• The florists' manual / by William Scott; a reference book for commercial florists. Chicago: Florists' Publishing Co., 1899. url p. 85.
• The florists' manual, Chicago, Florists' publishing company, 1899. url p. 85.
• Gastony, G. J. 1986. Electrophoretic evidence for the origin of a fern species by unreduced spores. Amer. J. Bot. 73: 1563--1569.
• Kramer, K. U. and R. Viane. 1990. Aspleniaceae. In: K. Kubitzki et al., eds. 1990+. The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. 1+ vol. Berlin etc. Vol. 1, pp. 52--56.
• Reichstein, T. 1981. Hybrids in European Aspleniaceae (Pteridophyta). Bot. Helv. 91: 89--139.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 16, 2007:

• GBIF-Spain, CUBA: Herbario de la Academia de Ciencias, La Habana, Cuba: HAC-Pteridophyta
• GBIF-Spain, CUBA:Herbario del Jardín Botánico Nacional, La Habana, Cuba: HAJB-Pteridophyta
• GBIF-Spain, CUBA:Herbario del Jardín de los Helechos, Centro Oriental de Ecosistemas y Biodiversidad, Santiago de Cuba: BSC-Pteridophyta
• Herbarium of the University of Aarhus, The AAU Herbarium Database
• Herbier de la Guyane, Herbier de la Guyane
• Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
• , Biodiversidad de Costa Rica
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
• University of Alabama Biodiversity and Systematics, Herbarium

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2644572
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-17375
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13728477
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:17043820-1
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 17375
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 17043820
• MoBot NameID: 26602496
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: ASFO2
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 23199

Footnotes

1. Wagner, Warren H. Jr., Robbin C. Moran, and Charles R. Werth "Aspleniaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. Warren H. Wagner Jr., Robbin C. Moran, Charles R. Werth "Asplenium". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
3. Mean = 485.770 meters (1,593.734 feet), Standard Deviation = 794.710 based on 531 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.