Asplenium viride

Green spleenwort, green spleenwort, green spleenwort

Family: Aspleniaceae · Type: Fern · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.3

Green spleenwort is a native fern found in the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains on the eastern side of Sierra Buttes in Sierra County, growing on rocks in limestone seams at an elevation of 2,050 meters. With delicate green fronds clustered together, this fern produces narrow linear blades 8 to 12 millimeters wide with 8 to 15 pairs of small pinnae. Growing 3 to 20 centimeters tall, the fern has slender red-brown stems that are green or straw-colored above, with pinnae that are rhombic or broadly ovate and lightly crenate along their edges. Its fronds have short stalks 2 to 5 centimeters long, with pinnae measuring 3 to 7 millimeters in length and featuring shallow indentations on the upper and distal margins. Small sporangia clusters, generally 1 to 1.5 millimeters long, appear in 1 to 3 pairs on each pinna.

Habitat: On rocks in limestone seams in metamorphic rocks

Elevation: 2050 m

Bioregions: n SNH (e side of Sierra Buttes, Sierra Co.)

California counties: Sierra

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.