Taxonomy

• Kingdom: Plantae
• Clade: Tracheophytes
• Clade: Monilophytes
• Class: Polypodiopsida
• Subclass: Polypodiidae
• Order: Polypodiales
• Suborder: Aspleniineae
• Family: Aspleniaceae
• Genus: Asplenium
• Species: Asplenium quadrivalens

Presence

Present.

Conservation status

• Red List (Metropolitan France): LC Least Concern

Notes

Possible confusion with other species of the A. trichomanes complex. The gradually narrowing fronds, the brown-black rachis, the elongated, perpendicularly inserted, and closely spaced pinnae, and the very reduced terminal segment allow for the identification of A. quadrivalens.

Mostly basiphilous species that grows on various rocks, scree slopes, and old walls. Tetraploid (2n = 144). Previously treated as a subspecies of A. trichomanes L., 1753 under the name A. trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens D.E.Mey., 1962.

Hybridizes with:

• A. azomanes Rosselló, Cubas & Rebassa, 1991 to produce A. × tubalense Rosselló, Cubas & Rebassa, 1991;
• A. foreziense Le Grand ex Magnier, 1884 to produce A. × pagesii Litard., 1910, P;
• A. harovii Godr., 1842 to produce A. × staufferi (Lovis & Reichst.) L.Sáez & Rosselló, 1997, P (hom. syn. A. trichomanes nothosubsp. staufferi Lovis & Reichst., 1985);
• A. inexpectans (Lovis) Landolt, 2010 to produce A. × lucanum (Cubas, Rosselló & Pangua) ined., P (hom. syn. A. trichomanes nothosubsp. lucanum Cubas, Rosselló & Pangua, 1989);
• A. jessenii Hong M.Liu & H.Schneid., 2018 to produce A. × lovisianum (S.Jess.) ined., P (hom. syn. A. trichomanes nothosubsp. lovisianum S.Jess., 1995);
• A. obovatum subsp. billotii (F.W.Schultz) O.Bolòs, Vigo, Masalles & Ninot, 1990 to produce A. × aran-tohanum Alejandre & M.J.Escal., 2005, P;
• A. ruta-muraria L., 1753 to produce A. × clermontiae Syme, 1886, P;
• A. septentrionale subsp. septentrionale (L.) Hoffm., 1796 to produce A. × heufleri Reichardt, 1859, P (hom. syn. A. × alternifolium nothosubsp. heufleri (Reichardt) Aizpuru, Catalán & Salvo, 1985);
• A. trichomanes L., 1753 to produce A. × lusaticum D.E.Mey., 1958, P (hom. syn. A. trichomanes nothosubsp. lusaticum (D.E.Mey.) Lawalrée, 1978).

Photographs

Sources

• Badré, F., & Deschatres, R. (1979). Les Ptéridophytes de la France : liste commentée des espèces (taxinomie, cytologie, écologie et répartition générale). Candollea, 34(2), 379-457. https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-880127

• Prelli, R., & Boudrie, M. (2024). Les fougères et plantes alliées d’Europe (2nd ed., p. 297). Biotope.

• Tison, J.M., & de Foucault, B. (2014). Flora Gallica : Flore de France (p. 6). Biotope.

• Xu, K.W., Zhang, L., Rothfels, C.J., Smith, A.R., Viane, R., Lorence, D., Wood, K.R., Chen, C.W., Knapp, R., Zhou, L., Lu, N.T., Zhou, X.M., Wei, H.J., Fan, Q., Chen, S.F., Cicuzza, D., Gao, X.F., Liao, W.B., & Zhang, L.B. (2020), A global plastid phylogeny of the fern genus Asplenium (Aspleniaceae). Cladistics, 36, 22-71. https://doi.org/10.1111/cla.12384