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Asplenium scolopendrium

(Hart´s-Tongue Fern)

Overview

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Special Concern
Threat status

Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Hart´s-Tongue Fern, Hart's Tongue, Hart's Tongue Fern, Hart's Tonguefern, Hart's-Tongue Fern, Harts Tongue Fern

Description

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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

Habit: Prostrate creeping spreading evergreen perennial .

Flowers: Bloom Period: n/a • Flower Color: inconspicuous, none

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 4-24" tall.

Landscaping

Care: Easy care.

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 2,500 meters (0 to 8,202 feet).[3]

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space 24-36" apart.

Soil: Prefers moist, good soil. • Minimum pH: 6.1 • Maximum pH: 8.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Partial to Full Shade.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a. (map)

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Phyllitis scolopendrium (L.) Newman

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 03-Dec-2003.

Place of publication : Sp. pl. 2:1079. 1753

Name verified on 12-Jul-1994 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 23-Aug-1994

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Asplenium

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 1565 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

A. abbottii · A. abbreviatum · A. abrotanoides · A. abscissum (Abscised Spleenwort) · A. abyssinicum · A. achalense · A. achillaefolium · A. achilleifolium · A. acostae · A. acrobryum · A. acrostichoides · A. actiniopteroides · A. acuminatum (Taper-Tip Spleenwort) · A. acutiserratum · A. acutiusculum · A. acutum · A. adamsii · A. adianthum-nigrum · A. adiantifrons · A. adiantoides · A. adiantum · A. adiantum-nigrum (Black Spleenwort) · A. adiantum-nigrum subsp. corunnense · A. adiantum-nigrum var. silesiacum · A. adiantum-nigrum woronowii (Black Spleenwort) · A. adiantumnigrum · A. adiantum nigrum · A. adiantum nigrum × septentrionale · A. adnatum · A. adulterinum (Ladder Spleenwort) · A. adulterinum subsp. presolanense · A. adulterinum × viride · A. aegaeum · A. aemilii-guineae · A. aequibasis · A. aethiopicum (Egyptian Spleenwort) · A. aethiopicum braithwaitii · A. aethiopicum subsp. braithwaitii · A. aethiopicum subsp. filare · A. aethiopicum subsp. tripinnatum · A. aethiopicum tripinnatum · A. aetriopicum · A. affine · A. africanum · A. afzelii · A. aitchisonii · A. alatulum · A. alatum · A. albersii · A. alfredii · A. alienum · A. alloeopteron · A. alloeopterum · A. alpestre · A. altajense · A. alternans · A. alternifolium (Alternateleaf Spleenwort) · A. altissimum · A. alvarezense · A. amabile · A. amaurolobum · A. amazonicum · A. ambiguum · A. ambohitantelense · A. amboinense · A. amoenum · A. anceps · A. andapense · A. andrewsii · A. angustatum · A. angustifolium · A. angustum · A. anisodontum · A. anisophyllum · A. annamense · A. annetii · A. anogrammoides · A. anomalum · A. anomodum · A. anthriscifolium · A. antiquum · A. antiquum Victoria · A. antrophyoides · A. apertum · A. apogamum · A. appendiculatum · A. appendiculatum maritimum · A. appendiculatum subsp. maritimum · A. aquaticum · A. aquilinum · A. araucarieti · A. arborescens · A. arboreum · A. arcuatum · A. argentinum · A. argutum · A. arifolium · A. arisanense · A. arnottii · A. ascensionis

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 14, 2007:

Identifiers

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 = 210.970 meters (692.159 feet), Standard Deviation = 252.620 based on 2,814 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/2/2009