Asplenium montanum

Mountain Spleenwort
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Pteridophyta
Class:	Polypodiopsida
Order:	Polypodiales
Family:	Aspleniaceae
Genus:	Asplenium
Species:	A. montanum
Binomial name
Asplenium montanum L.

Asplenium montanum is commonly known as the mountain spleenwort, a simple reflection of the scientific name. It is a small but intricately divided fern of acid rocks. Typically, it grows in rock crevices into which moisture seeps from within the rock strata. It is peculiar to the Appalachian domain.

Illustration from How to Know the Ferns by Frances Theodora Parsons (1899); illustration by Marion Satterlee

The mountain spleenwort is the parent of a number of Asplenium hybrids (including species of hybrid origin), most notably the species Bradley's spleenwort, Asplenium bradleyi, and the lobed spleenwort, Asplenium pinnatifidum.