Asplenium viride is a species of fern known as the green spleenwort because of its green stipes and rachis. This feature easily distinguishes it from the very similar-looking maidenhair spleenwort, Asplenium trichomanes.
Taxonomy
Green spleenwort was described by
Carl Linnaeus in his 1753
Species Plantarum, under the name "
Asplenium Trich. ramosum", with a type locality of "
in Arvorniæ rupibus" (rocks in
Caernarfonshire).
Under the rules of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, phrase names such as "
Asplenium Trichomanes ramosum" are to be treated as orthographic errors – in this case, for "
Asplenium ramosum".
(1994). 387429367X, Koeltz Scientific Books. 387429367X
That name was later rejected in favour of William Hudson's later name
Asplenium viride,
which had a type locality of "
in rupibus humidis in montibus Walliæ et in comitatibus Eboracensi et Westmorlandico" (damp rocks in the mountains of Wales,
Yorkshire and
Westmorland).
A global phylogeny of Asplenium published in 2020 divided the genus into eleven clades, which were given informal names pending further taxonomic study. A. viride belongs to the " A. viride subclade" of the " A. trichomanes clade". The A. trichomanes clade has a worldwide distribution. Members of the clade grow on rocks and usually have once-pinnate leaf blades with slender, chestnut- to dark-brown stalks. The A. viride subclade, which contains only A. viride and its allopolyploid descendant A. adulterinum, is exceptional in having green stalks.
Ecology
A. viride is a native species of northern and western
North America and northern
Europe and
Asia. It is a small rock fern, growing on
calcareous rock. It is a diploid species, with
n = 36, and hybridizes with
Asplenium trichomanes to produce
Asplenium × adulterinum, found on
Vancouver Island,
British Columbia.
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