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Plant Profile

Delicate Spleenwort (Asplenium verecundum)

Asplenium verecundum in habitat, Miami-Dade County. Photo Credit: J. Possley

Global Rank: G1 - Critically Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Aspleniaceae
State: FL
Nature Serve ID: 129842
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Categories of Interest: Ferns
Date Inducted in National Collection:

Description:

A perennial lacy spleenwort with tufted fronds and an erect, unbranched stem with fibrous roots. Fronds are a bright green color, about 4dm in length, and can be ascending, arching, curving or dropping; sterile and fertile fronds are similar in appearance. Its petioles are short at just 0.5-5 cm in length and can appear brown, purple, or grayish brown in color. Rachis is a dull purplish brown, to blackish or greenish, grooved and without hairs. The blades are bi- or tripinnate, 3 to 10 cm in length, up to about 5 cm wide, lanceolate in overall shape, tapering toward both the base and apex, but narrower at the apex. Pinnae are borne in 18-22 alternate and well spaced pairs, ovate in outline, longer ones to about 3cm long and 1cm wide; pinnules are divided into up to 5 oblanceolate segments, with each segment growing up to 3mm long and 2mm wide. Elliptic in shape, the sori are borne one pinnule per segment (Nelson 2000).

Where is Delicate Spleenwort (Asplenium verecundum) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Rockland hammock solution holes and sheltered limestone outcroppings in closed canopy, high humidity forest interior.

Distribution:

Currently, Asplenium verecundum is endemic to Miami-Dade county, as well as a handful of out counties in North Florida. They are also present in Cuba, but the conservation status of these populations is not well known.

This species is held in a few Miami-Dade sites (6 protected and 1 unprotected). The number of remaining wild individuals in Miami is less than 1000 sporophytes and annual variation can be significant.

States & Provinces:

Delicate Spleenwort can be found in Florida

Which CPC Partners conserve Delicate Spleenwort (Asplenium verecundum)?

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Not Sponsored

Assigned 06/09/17

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

Not Sponsored

Assigned 08/09/17

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

01/15/2018

Invasive species which threaten A. verecundum include Syngonium podophyllum, Epipremnum pinnatum, Thelypteris opulenta, Nephrolepis cordifolia, Nephrolepis brownii, Dioscorea bulbifera, and others.

01/10/2018

The continued monitoring of wild populations on a biannual basis for mortality, recruitment, and phenology is important; the exploration of genetic population variables for both wild and introduced populations should also be conducted.

01/10/2018

Long-term studies of outplantings must be conducted to ensure that they are successful in all aspects of population ecology, including survival, reproduction, growth, and fitness. Appropriate areas to outplant are difficult to identify and it should be given great consideration as to the risk to natural populations of creating a new population or augmenting an existing population.

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

Florida endemic. Extremely limited current range and very specialized habitat requirements.