Common Names
Common Names in English:
Resilient Spleenwort, Wagner's Spleenwort
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 ) .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.
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.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.
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 Ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Moniliformopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997, Nom. Nud.
- Class:
Filicopsida
()
- Cronquist Et Al.
- Order:
Filicales
()
- Link
- Family:
Aspleniaceae
()
- Newman
- Spleenwort Family
- Genus:
Asplenium
()
- Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1078. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 485, 1754.
- Spleenwort [Greek splen, spleen; thought by Dioscorides to be useful for treating spleen diseases]
- Subspecies:
heteroresiliens
- Botanical name: - Asplenium x heteroresiliens
- Subspecies:
heteroresiliens
- Genus:
Asplenium
(
- Family:
Aspleniaceae
(
- Order:
Filicales
(
- Class:
Filicopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Moniliformopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Unambiguous Synonyms
- Asplenium heteroresiliens W. H. Wagner (pro sp.)
Similar Species
Members of the genus Asplenium
There are approximately 2848 species in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:
A. boydstoniae · A. confluens · A. contrei · A. eberlei · A. flagrum · A. herb-wagneri · A. inexpectatum · A. kokeense · A. microdon · A. mixtum · A. morganii · A. shawneense · A. sollerense · A. sphenocookii · A. 'Maori Princess' · A. abbottii · A. abbreviatum · A. abrotanoides · A. abscissum (Abscised Spleenwort) · A. abscissum var. firmum · A. abscissum var. ruiziana · A. abscissum var. ruizianum · A. abscissum var. subaequilateralis · A. abyssinicum · A. achalense · A. achillaefolium · A. achilleaefolium var. grande · A. achilleaefolium var. pinnatifido-serratum · A. achilleifolium · A. acostae · A. acrobryum · A. acrocarpum · A. acrostichoides · A. acrostichoides var. thelypteroides · A. actiniopteroides · A. acuminatum (Taper-Tip Spleenwort) · A. acutipinnata · A. acutiserratum · A. acutiusculum · A. acutum · A. adamsii · A. adianthum-nigrum · A. adiantifrons · A. adiantoides · A. adiantoides var. caudatum · A. adiantoides var. fibrillosum · A. adiantoides var. macrurum · A. adiantoides var. normale · A. adiantoides var. whittlei · A. adiantum · A. adiantum nigrum · A. adiantum nigrum × ruta muraria · A. adiantum nigrum × septentrionale · A. adiantum nigrum × trichomanes · A. adiantum-nigrum (Black Spleenwort) · A. adiantum-nigrum subsp. corunnense · A. adiantum-nigrum subsp. woronowii · A. adiantum-nigrum subsp. yuanum · A. adiantum-nigrum var. microdon · A. adiantum-nigrum var. silesiacum · A. adiantum-nigrum var. solidum · A. adiantum-nigrum var. yuanum · A. adiantum-nigrum woronowii · A. adiantumnigrum · A. adnatum · A. adscensionis · A. adulterinum (Ladder Spleenwort) · A. adulterinum subsp. presolanense · A. adulterinum × viride · A. aegaeum · A. aemilii-guineae · A. aequibasale · A. aequibasis · A. aequilaterale · A. aethiopicum (Egyptian Spleenwort) · A. aethiopicum braithwaitii · A. aethiopicum filare · A. aethiopicum subsp. braithwaitii · A. aethiopicum subsp. dodecaploideum · A. aethiopicum subsp. filare · A. aethiopicum subsp. tripinnatum · A. aethiopicum tripinnatum · A. aetriopicum · A. affine · A. affine var. pecten · A. affine var. tanalense · A. africanum · A. afzelii · A. aitchisonii · A. aitonii · A. akimense · A. alatulum · A. alatum · A. albersii · A. alfredii · A. alienum · A. alienum var. flagellum · A. alismifolium · A. allantodioides · A. alloeopterum
Bibliography
- 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.
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Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed October 4, 2006.
- MBLWHOI Library: Universal Biological Index and Organizer. uBio.org accessed July 18, 2008.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 446720
- Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: PPASP020J0
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 167608
