Asplenium flaccidum

Asplenium flaccidum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Embryophytes
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Division:	Polypodiophyta
Class:	Polypodiopsida
Order:	Polypodiales
Suborder:	Aspleniineae
Family:	Aspleniaceae
Genus:	Asplenium
Species:	A. flaccidum
Binomial name
Asplenium flaccidum G.Forst.

Asplenium flaccidum is a species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae. The plant common name is drooping spleenwort or weeping spleenwort, and the species name flaccidum derives from the Latin root meaning drooping. The plant is also known in its native New Zealand by the Māori name makawe. An example occurrence of A. flaccidum is within a Nothofagus-Podocarp forest at Hamilton Ecological District on New Zealand's North Island in association with other fern species understory plants, Crown fern (''Blechnum discolor'') being an example.

Taxonomy

A global phylogeny of Asplenium published in 2020 divided the genus into eleven clades (groups), which were given informal names pending further taxonomic study. A. flaccidum belongs to the "Neottopteris clade", members of which generally have somewhat leathery leaf tissue. It forms a clade with A. appendiculatum and A. chathamense.

References

• C. Michael Hogan. 2009. Crown Fern: Blechnum discolor, Globaltwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
• Sue Olsen. 2007. Encyclopedia of Garden Ferns, Timber Press, ISBN 0-88192-819-4, ISBN 978-0-88192-819-8, 444 pages
• Xu, Ke-Wang; Zhang, Liang; Rothfels, Carl J.; Smith, Alan R.; Viane, Ronald; Lorence, David; Wood, Kenneth R.; Chen, Cheng-Wei; Knapp, Ralf; Zhou, Lin; Lu, Ngan Thi; Zhou, Xin-Mao; Wei, Hong-Jin; Fan, Qiang; Chen, Su-Fang; Cicuzza, Daniele; Gao, Xin-Fen; Li, Wen-Bo; Zhang, Li-Bing (2020). "A global plastid phylogeny of the fern genus Asplenium (Aspleniaceae)". Cladistics. 36 (1): 22–71. doi:10.1111/cla.12384. PMID 34618950. S2CID 201197385.