The most common vernacular name is spleenworts, applied to the more "typical" species. A. nidus and several similar species are called bird's-nest ferns, the Camptosorus group is known as walking ferns, and distinct names are applied to some other particularly well-known species.
Taxonomy and genetics
Many groups of species have been separated from Asplenium as
segregate genera. These include Camptosorus, Ceterach, Phyllitis, and Tarachia, but these species can form
hybrids with other Asplenium species and because of this are usually included in a more broadly defined Asplenium.[1]
Some of the older classifications elevate the Aspleniaceae to the
taxonomic rank of
order as Aspleniales. The newer classifications place it in the subordinal group called eupolypods within the order
Polypodiales. Within the eupolypods, Aspleniaceae belongs to a
clade informally and provisionally known as eupolypods II.
Both the scientific name and the common name "spleenwort" are derived from an old belief, based on the
doctrine of signatures, that the fern was useful for ailments of the
spleen,[3] due to the spleen-shaped
sori on the backs of the
fronds. "-wort" is an ancient English term that simply means "
plant" (compare
German-wurz). The plants were thought to cause
infertility in women.[3]
... certain pastures in Crete, on each side of the river Pothereus, which separates the two Cretan states of Gnosus and Gortyna. There are cattle at pasture on the right and left banks of that river, but while the cattle that feed near Gnosus have the usual spleen, those on the other side near Gortyna have no perceptible spleen. On investigating the subject, physicians discovered on this side a kind of herb which the cattle chew and thus make their spleen small. The herb is therefore gathered and used as a medicine for the cure of splenetic people. The Cretans call it ἄσπληνον.
"Book I" . Ten Books on Architecture – via
Wikisource.
A few of these ferns have some economic importance in the
horticulture trade. The
bird's-nest ferns (A. nidus and several very similar, closely related species) are commonly found for sale as a
house plant. The Australian
mother spleenwort (A. bulbiferum) is sometimes available at
greenhouses, and is of interest, along with the related A. viviparum, for the many small bulblets borne on the fronds that may grow into new plants. This characteristic is also shared with the eastern North American
walking fern (A. rhizophyllum) and several Mexican species including A. palmeri. The
ebony spleenwortA. platyneuron is also sometimes sold in nurseries as a hardy plant. However, many spleenworts are epipetric or
epiphytic and difficult to cultivate.
^Schneider, Harald; Russell, Steve J.; Cox, Cymon J.; Bakker, Freek; Henderson, Sally; Rumsey, Fred; Barrett, John; Gibby, Mary;
Vogel, Johannes C. (2004). "Chloroplast Phylogeny of Asplenioid Ferns based on rbcL and trnL-F Spacer Sequences (Polypodiidae, Aspleniaceae) and its Implications for Biogeography". Systematic Botany. 29 (2): 260–274.
doi:
10.1600/036364404774195476.
S2CID85868809.
^Murphy, Rosaline J; Page, Cristopher N; Parslow, Rosemary E; Bennallick, Ian J (2012). Ferns, Clubmosses, Quillworts and Horsetails of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Truro: ERCCIS.
ISBN978-1-902864-07-5.