Asplenium L.

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Description:

Epiphytic, lithophytic or terrestrial plants. Rhizome creeping, suberect or erect, short or long , often stoloniferous, with scales. Stipe not articulated to the rhizome; black, castaneous or greyish-green; hairless or with hairs or scales. Fronds monomorphic, widely spaced or tufted, simple to 4-pinnatifid; with or without a proliferous bud at or near the lamina apex; veins free or anastomosing at the margins. Sori linear (in ours), elongated and dorsally along a vein or shortened and near marginal; indusium narrow or rudimentary. 

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Rights holder/AuthorMark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings, Flora of Zimbabwe
Sourcehttp://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=86

Isotype for Asplenium onustum Christ in Pittier
Catalog Number: US 832322
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): A. Tonduz
Locality: Costa Rica, Central America

  • Isotype: Christ, H. 1901. Prim. Fl. Costaricensis. 3: 24.
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Rights holder/AuthorThis image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws.
Sourcehttp://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=2143583

Statistics of barcoding coverage:

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
Specimen Records:641
Specimens with Sequences:614
Specimens with Barcodes:586
Species:208
Species With Barcodes:202
Public Records:523
Public Species:199
Public BINs:0

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Rights holder/AuthorSujeevan Ratnasingham, Paul D.N. Hebert, Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD)
Sourcehttp://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxid=124662

Barcode data:

Access Published & Released Data: Download FASTA File

Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Rights holder/AuthorSujeevan Ratnasingham, Paul D.N. Hebert, Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD)
Sourcehttp://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxid=124662

Asplenium:

Asplenium is a genus of about 700 species of ferns, often treated as the only genus in the family Aspleniaceae, though other authors consider Hymenasplenium separate, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences, a different chromosome count, and structural differences in the rhizomes. The type species for the genus is Asplenium marinum.

Many groups of species have been separated from Asplenium as segregate genera. These include Camptosorus, Ceterach, Phyllitis, and Tarachia, but these species can form hybrids with other Asplenium species and because of this are usually included in a more broadly defined Asplenium.[1]

Some of the older classifications elevate the Aspleniaceae to the taxonomic rank of order as Aspleniales. The newer classifications place it in the subordinal group called eupolypods within the order Polypodiales. Within the eupolypods, Aspleniaceae belongs to a clade informally and provisionally known as eupolypods II.

It has been found that in some species, the chloroplast genome has evolved in complex and highly unusual ways. This makes standard cladistic analyses unsuited to resolve the phylogeny of that particular group of ferns, and even very sophisticated computational phylogenetics methods yield little information. In addition to hybridization running rampant in parts of this genus, there are also some species like the mother spleenwort (A. bulbiferum) or A. viviparum which mainly reproduce asexually, essentially cloning themselves over and over again. While most are diploid or tetraploid, some species (e.g. A. shuttleworthianum) are octoploid.[2]

The most common vernacular name is spleenworts, applied to the more "typical" species. A. nidus and several similar species are called bird's-nest ferns, the Camptosorus group is known as walking ferns, and distinct names are applied to some other particularly well-known species.



Uses[edit]

Both the scientific name and the common name "spleenwort" are derived from an old belief, based on the doctrine of signatures, that the fern was useful for ailments of the spleen, due to the spleen-shaped sori on the backs of the fronds. "-wort" is an ancient English term that simply means "plant" (compare German -wurz).

A few of these ferns have some economic importance in the horticulture trade. The bird's-nest ferns (A. nidus and several very similar, closely related species) are commonly found for sale as a house plant. The Australian mother spleenwort (A. bulbiferum) is sometimes available at greenhouses, and is of interest, along with the related A. viviparum, for the many small bulblets borne on the fronds that may grow into new plants. This characteristic is also shared with the eastern North American walking fern (A. rhizophyllum) and several Mexican species including A. palmeri. The ebony spleenwort A. platyneuron is also sometimes sold in nurseries as a hardy plant. However, many spleenworts are epipetric or epiphytic and difficult to cultivate.

Asplenium species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Batrachedra bedelliella which feeds exclusively on A. nidus. For diseases of Asplenium, see List of foliage plant diseases (Polypodiaceae).

Selected species[edit]


Black spleenwort (A. adiantum-nigrum)


Asplenium aethiopicum


Crow's-nest fern (A. australasicum), one of the bird's-nest ferns


Asplenium azoricum


Sea spleenwort (A. marinum)


Forked spleenwort (A. septentrionale)


Green spleenwort (A. viride)

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Schneider, Harald; Russell, Steve J.; Cox, Cymon J.; Bakker, Freek; Henderson, Sally; Rumsey, Fred; Barrett, John; Gibby, Mary; Vogel, Johannes C. (2004). "Chloroplast Phylogeny of Asplenioid Ferns based on rbcL and trnL-F Spacer Sequences (Polypodiidae, Aspleniaceae) and its Implications for Biogeography". Systematic Botany 29 (2): 260–274. doi:10.1600/036364404774195476. 
  2. ^ Lara D. Shepherd, Barbara R. Holland & Leon R. Perrie (2008). "Conflict amongst chloroplast DNA sequences obscures the phylogeny of a group of Asplenium ferns". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 48 (1): 176–187. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.02.023. 
  3. ^ Murphy, Rosaline J; Page, Cristopher N; Parslow, Rosemary E; Bennallick, Ian J (2012). Ferns, Clubmosses, Quillworts and Horsetails of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Truro: ERCCIS. ISBN 978 1 902864 07 5. 
  4. ^ Asplenium × kenzoi Sa. Kurata Germplasm Resources Information Network
  5. ^ N. Murakami, S. Nogami, M. Watanabe & K. Iwatsuki (1999). "Phylogeny of Aspleniaceae inferred from rbcL nucleotide sequences". American Fern Journal 89: 232–243. doi:10.2307/1547233. 
  6. ^ "The list of plant and animal species for which the status of natural rarities was established". Retrieved August 26, 2010. 
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Asplenium trichomanes subsp. coriaceifolium:

Asplenium trichomanes subsp. coriaceifolium is an allotetraploid hybrid fern ( 2n = 144 chromosomes ) of the Aspleniaceae family. It was found for the first time in the Soller Valley in the Serra de Tramuntana of the island of Mallorca, Spain, and described by both Spanish and German botanists at the same time. The Spaniards gave it the name Asplenium azomanes.

Its fronds are coriacea as plastic and the rachis is very thick, dark garnet color and brilliance. A typical feature of this fern is the existence of a small atrium at the base of the pinnae medium and lower geared towards the apex of the frond with one or two sori in its underside. Sporulation occurs from October to March.



Habitat[edit]

It lives among the stones of the walls of the terraces and in the crevices of limestone rocks oriented to the north and northwest. Depending on the degree of exposure to the sun, its phenotype changes a lot, becoming more coriaceous the more sunlight it receives. In the driest months of summer comes into estivation, dehydrating their fronds, reaching apparently dead. With the first rains of autumn, the fern rehydrate the dried fronds and turn green quickly.

Distribution[edit]

Its population is distributed in three locations separated by the Mediterranean Sea: the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera), south of the Iberian Peninsula (Albacete, Jaen, Malaga and Cadiz) and the north of Morocco (from Chefchaouen in Western Rif until the rocks surrounding the Caves of Chameau in Mountains of Beni Snassen).

Hybrids[edit]

  • Asplenium × tubalense (Asplenium trichomanes nothosubsp. barreraense): allotetraploid hybrid between Asplenium trichomanes subsp. coriaceifolium and Asplenium trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens.
  • Asplenium trichomanes nothosubsp. malacitense: hexaploid hybrid between Asplenium trichomanes subsp. coriaceifolium and Asplenium trichomanes subsp. inexpectans.

References[edit]

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Bird's-nest fern:

Bird's-nest ferns is a common name applied to several related species of ferns in the genus Asplenium. They grow in a tight, nest-like clump with a linguate leaf rosette and are usually epiphytic, growing in trees. Bird's-nest Fern may also be seen growing on rocks and they will grow in the ground, too.

The best-known species is A. nidus; others include A. australasicum (Crow's-nest Fern) and A. serratum (Wild Bird's-nest Fern).

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Sourcehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bird's-nest_fern&oldid=230393232
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