Acrostichum septentrionale L.

Forked spleenwort.

Rhizome erect, much branched; rhizome scales clathrate, dark reddish brown to black throughout, narrowly deltate in outline, to 4 mm long. Fronds 15 x 1 cm, evergreen, tufted, monomorphic or nearly so, blade/stipe ratio: 1:3 to 1:5. Stipe dark reddish brown at base, fading to green upwards, small hairs at base, otherwise hairless. Lamina linear in outline, forking for 2 times into narrow segments, cleft at the tips, leathery, hairless, margins entire, sometimes toothed at the tips, veins free, forking. Sori linear, parallel, alternating irregularly across the midrib; indusium thin, flap-like, often covered during maturation, on one side of the sorus, opening towards the midrib.

septentrionalis: of the North.

Open sites, various substrates.

Northern Europe, mountains of central Europe, elsewhere in Asia and North America scattered, often rare.

Morocco and Western Sahara.

Lithophytic.