''Asplenium bulbiferum'', known as mother spleenwort, is a fern species native to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country ...

only. It is also called hen and chicken fern and, in the

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

, pikopiko, mouku or mauku. Its fronds are eaten as a

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

. It grows small

bulbil A bulbil (also referred to as bulbel, bulblet, and/or pup) is a small, young plant that is reproduced vegetatively from axillary buds on the parent plant's stem or in place of a flower on an inflorescence. These young plants are clones of the par ...

s on top of its fronds. Once grown to about , these offspring fall off and, provided the soil they land in is kept moist, develop a root system and grow into new ferns. This additional means of reproduction can be employed with greater ease than propagation by spores. There are a number of similar Southern Hemisphere species which have a similar mode of reproduction, including '' Asplenium daucifolium''. ''Asplenium bulbiferum'' commonly grows in most bush areas in New Zealand. It thrives in many situations from shade to partial sunlight.

Similar species

It is often confused with '' Asplenium gracillimum'' which is a fern species native to both

and Australia. ''A. gracillimum'' is the fertile

allotetraploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contains ...

hybrid of ''A. bulbiferum'' and '' A. hookerianum'', and sometimes back-crosses with ''A. bulbiferum''. ''A. bulbiferum'' is generally larger and found in wetter areas. The wings on its leaf axes are more pronounced, most pinnules are fused to the pinna axis rather than stalked, and it bears bulbils more frequently and abundantly than ''A. gracillimum''. Plants sold commercially as ''A. bulbiferum'' are popular, including as an indoor plant, tolerating areas with low light. However, DNA evidence has shown these plants are most commonly hybrids between the New Zealand ''A. bulbiferum'' and the Australian ''A. dimorphum''. They are much larger than typical ''A. bulbiferum'' and the fronds with and without sporangia differ in the degree of dissection. The spores do not germinate but the plants propagate readily by means of the bulbils. These plants should be known as ''A. × lucrosum'' Perrie, Shepherd & Brownsey, and should not be used in revegetation projects where indigenous vegetation is required.

Taxonomy

A global phylogeny of ''Asplenium'' published in 2020 divided the genus into eleven clades, which were given informal names pending further taxonomic study. ''A. bulbiferum'' belongs to the "''Neottopteris'' clade", members of which generally have somewhat leathery leaf tissue. It formed a clade with '' A. cimmeriorum'', '' A. hookerianum'', and '' A. richardii''.

References

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Nutritional value of NZ edible plants: PikopikoIndigenous Maori food ingredients: PikopikoNew Zealand Plant Conservation Network: Asplenium bulbiferum
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1707361 bulbiferum Ferns of New Zealand Leaf vegetables Garden plants of New Zealand House plants Plants described in 1786