Asplenium tenerum

Aspleniaceae

Asplenium tenerum G.Forst.

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/119826

Lithophytic ferns. Rhizomes erect, scaly. Stipe and rachis mostly green except at extreme base, bearing very scattered scales; stipe 5–12 cm long, 0.5–1 mm diam. Lamina narrowly ovate, pinnate, 11–17 cm long, 4–6 cm wide, pale green, ±glabrous; apices acuminate. Pinnae in 10–15 pairs, ±oblong; bases lobed acroscopically and partially excised basiscopically, shortly stalked; margins deeply and regularly crenate; apices obtuse; longest pinnae below middle, 20–30 mm long, 9–13 mm wide, reducing gradually upwards but abruptly contracted to an acuminate pinnatifid apical segment. Sori to 3 mm long. Perispores pale, reticulate, fenestrate, with occasional ridges; exospores 41 µm × 28.4 µm (mean). 

Mt Carbine to Atherton Tablelands in NE QLD. Also scattered across Palaeotropics.

Lithophytic on rocks and boudlers near creeks in high-rainfall high-altitude vine forest.