Asplenium septentrionale

Asplenium septentrionale is a species of fern known by the common names northern spleenwort and forked spleenwort. It is native to western North America, Europe, and Asia, where it grows on rocks. Its long, slender leaves give it a distinctive appearance, more like a grass than a typical fern. Three subspecies exist, corresponding to a tetraploid and a diploid cytotype and their triploid hybrid. Asplenium septentrionale subsp. septentrionale is found in Europe and Asia from the Macaronesian Islands east through Europe, western Asia, the former USSR, northern India, parts of western and central China (Xinjiang, Tibet, and Shaanxi), and Taiwan. It is also found in North America, principally in the Rocky Mountains of the western United States, but also in the Black Hills of South Dakota – Wyoming. It also occurs in the mountains of the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada, from Oregon south through California into Baja California. Populations occur to the eastward in western Texas and near the tip of the Oklahoma Panhandle, and two very disjunct stations have been located on shale in Monroe County and Hardy County, West Virginia. Asplenium septentrionale is a small fern which grows in dense clusters superficially resembling tufts of grass. The long, dark stems support narrow, leathery leaf blades, which may appear slightly forked at the tip.