''Asplenium onopteris'', known as the Irish spleenwort or western black spleenwort, is a species of fern mostly found throughout the

Mediterranean Basin In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and w ...

but also around the

Eastern Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

Description

It is difficult to identify compared with the

black spleenwort ''Asplenium adiantum-nigrum'' is a common species of fern known by the common name black spleenwort. It is found mostly in Africa, Europe, and Eurasia, but is also native to a few locales in Mexico and the United States. Description This spleen ...

, ''

Asplenium adiantum-nigrum ''Asplenium adiantum-nigrum'' is a common species of fern known by the common name black spleenwort. It is found mostly in Africa, Europe, and Eurasia, but is also native to a few locales in Mexico and the United States. Description This spleen ...

''. The main difference is that ''A. onopteris'' is diploid and is one of the two parents of the tetraploid ''A. adiantum-nigrum'' (the other being the diploid ''A. cuneifolium''). Armed with a microscope, the most consistent observable difference between ''A. onopteris'' and ''A. adiantum-nigrum'' is that ''A. onopteris'' spores have a mean diameter of 28 μm and are almost all smaller than 31 μm, whereas those of ''A. adiantum-nigrum'' have a mean diameter of 34 μm and are almost all larger than 31 μm. The leaflets of typical ''A. onopteris'' are narrower in relation to their length than those of typical ''A. adiantum-nigrum'', but this is not a reliable means of identification.

Taxonomy

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, t ...

was the first to

describe Shneur Hasofer is a Hasidic musician known as DeScribe. Hasofer's musical style has been characterized as "Hasidic hip-hop," "Hasidic rap" and "Hasidic R&B". Background Hasofer was born to a Chabad Hasidic family in Melbourne, Australia. Hasofer ...

western black spleenwort with the

binomial Binomial may refer to: In mathematics *Binomial (polynomial), a polynomial with two terms *Binomial coefficient, numbers appearing in the expansions of powers of binomials * Binomial QMF, a perfect-reconstruction orthogonal wavelet decomposition ...

''Asplenium onopteris'' in his ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial names and was the ...

'' of 1753. A global phylogeny of ''Asplenium'' published in 2020 divided the genus into eleven clades, which were given informal names pending further taxonomic study. ''A. onopteris'' belongs to the "''Onopteris'' subclade" of the "''Pleurosorus'' clade". The ''Pleurosorus'' clade has a worldwide distribution; members are generally small and occur on hillsides, often sheltering among rocks in exposed habitats. The ''Onopteris'' subclade has ''Aspidium''-type

gametophyte A gametophyte () is one of the two alternation of generations, alternating multicellular organism, multicellular phases in the life cycles of plants and algae. It is a haploid multicellular organism that develops from a haploid spore that has on ...

s. Its closest

diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respecti ...

relative within the subclade is the North American '' A. montanum''.

Distribution and habitat

''Asplenium onopteris'' is found in western and central Europe, the

(including North Africa) and

Macaronesia Macaronesia (Portuguese: ''Macaronésia,'' Spanish: ''Macaronesia'') is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the North Atlantic, off the coasts of Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of Atlantic oceanic islands ...

(excluding Cape Verde). There are isolated findings as far north as Ireland and Poland.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2311641 onopteris Flora of Lebanon Plants described in 1753 Ferns of Africa Ferns of Asia Ferns of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus