Kingdom: Plantae Division: Pteridophyta (Filicophyta)
Class: Pteridopsida (Filicopsida)
Subclass: Filicinae
Order: Aspleniales
Family: Aspleniaceae
Genus: Asplenium

Asplenium resiliens

Common name: black-stem spleenwort

This small fern is a distinctly southern species, seldom found north of Tennessee or North Carolina. It grows on limestone, usually in shaded and moist locations.

Many people mistake this fern for the ebony spleenwort, A. platyneuron, but it does not have the dimorphism between the stiffly erect fertile fronds and the almost recumbent, smaller sterile fronds of the ebony spleenwort.

The hallmark of this species is the shining black stipe and rachis of the fronds.

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This page was last revised on 11-21-1997.