Ebony Spleenwort
Asplenium platyneuron
A small, upright evergreen fern whose glossy near-black stipe sets off a narrow ladder of neat pinnae. Fertile fronds stand stiffly erect while the sterile ones spread flat around them, so one plant reads as two. Unfussy in dry shade and one of the few ferns content on limestone, old mortar and rock crevices.
- Family
- Aspleniaceae
- Type
- fern
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 0.5–1 ft
- Spacing
- 0.5–1 ft apart
- Light
- part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, alkaline
- Landscape uses
- groundcover, container, naturalizing
- Native states
- AL, AR, AZ, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV