Western black spleenwort
Asplenium onopteris
Family · Aspleniaceae · Harmless
The fern with a triangular, finely divided frond that grows on shady banks and schist walls across the country. It stays green all year and is one of the few ferns you find in dry shade.
Oak woods · Walls and rocks · Uplands · Streams and ditches
Also known asIrish spleenwort
How to tell it
A triangular frond, three times divided into narrow pointed segments, lace-like. A black glossy axis at the base, green at the tip. Upright fronds in a tuft, leathery and glossy, lasting through winter.
What it is confused with
Maidenhair spleenwort
Asplenium trichomanes
Maidenhair spleenwort has round entire leaflets along a black axis; this has a thrice-divided lacy frond. Neither is dangerous.
Open sheet →What it is for
No relevant use. It is a good indicator of old woodland and soils holding moisture, and its presence on a bank says that spot did not dry out this summer.