Maidenhair Spleenwort - Asplenium trichomanes

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Description

A small tufted plant, the rhizome is short-creeping, often branched. It has a blackish glossy frond stalk and midrib and green fronds that are narrow, long, and once pinnate. 5-30 cm long. Pinnae: 20 to 35 pairs, opposite to sub opposite, oblong, round at apex. Sori long-oblong.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Walls and rocks.

When to see it

Spores ripe May to October.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Widespread and fairly frequent throughout Britain.

VC55 Status

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 51 of the 617 tetrads.

  • Graham Calow
    Bramble Walk, near Cosby
    01 June 2014
  • Peter Smith
    Duke Street, Leicester
    11 June 2013
    subspecies quadrivalens.
  • David Nicholls
    Ratby Church
    24 December 2011
    subspecies quadrivalens.
  • Alan Semper
    Harby garden wall
    15 October 2013
    Black spores
  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    17 June 2006
    subspecies quadrivalens.
  • Graham Calow
    Bramble Walk, near Cosby
    01 June 2014
    blackish glossy midrib
  • David Gould
    Narborough Bog
    11 August 2017

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Species data profile ?

Species profile

Common names
Maidenhair Spleenwort
Species group:
Ferns & Horsetails
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Polypodiales
Family:
Aspleniaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
123
First record:
17/06/2006 (Calow, Graham)
Last record:
24/09/2024 (Bell, Melinda)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.

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Latest images

Latest records

  • David Nicholls
    Ratby Church
    30 November 2012
    subspecies quadrivalens.
  • Alan Semper
    Harby garden wall
    09 June 2011
    subspecies quadrivalens.
  • David Nicholls
    Ratby
    13 March 2010
  • David Nicholls
    Ratby Church
    05 May 2012
    subspecies quadrivalens.
  • CAPochin
    GUCanal
    06 April 2023
  • David Nicholls
    Ratby church
    04 January 2023
  • Graham Calow
    Broughton Astley
    08 February 2013
  • David Gould
    Narborough Bog
    11 August 2017
  • Peter Smith
    Duke Street, Leicester
    11 June 2013
  • David Nicholls
    Broughton Astley
    04 July 2013
  • Alan Semper
    Bradgate Park
    07 October 2013
  • Alan Semper
    Bradgate Pk_20131007
    07 October 2013
  • Alan Semper
    Harby garden wall
    15 October 2013
    Growing in mortar joints of brick wall
  • Graham Calow
    Bridge under Bramble Walk disused railway, Cosby
    20 May 2016