Asplenium serratum

Asplenium serratum, the bird's nest spleenwort, wild birdnest fern, or New World birdnest fern, is a fern of the New World/Americas.

Distribution

The fern is native to tropical Brazil, the Caribbean, and Florida of the Southeastern United States. It is rare in central and southern Florida, where it is a state-listed endangered species.

Description

Asplenium serratum is an epiphytic or lithophytic fern that grows on eroded limestone, tree trunks, rotting stumps, and fallen logs.

Taxonomy

Linnaeus was the first to describe American bird's-nest fern with the binomial Asplenium serratum in his Species Plantarum of 1753.