Posted by Sunset, August 20, 2009 in Ornamentals
By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine
"What is it?" I asked.
"Maidenhair spleenwort," she answered, and I laughed. "Or Asplenium trichomanes," she added, "if you like that better."
Well, whatever you call this oddly named fern, it's a good one. When Lisa told me it was native, I was surprised that I hadn't run into it—but then that's the fun of horticulture: you're always bumping into something new to you, if not to the rest of the world.
If we had been in East Africa, Alaska, Asia, England, or Arizona, Lisa could have made the same claim about maidenhair spleenwort's native status: this plant grows over a good part of the planet, usually moving up in elevation where its range approaches the equator.
Small, roundish leaflets give it a delicate look, like maidenhair fern—thus the first part of its common name. "Spleenwort" means "spleen plant," because the sori (spore-producing bodies on the backs of many Aspleniums) resemble the human spleen. According to the doctrine of signatures, which informed much of herbal medicine from Roman times until the Renaissance, God made plants or their parts resemble the things they were supposed to heal. That distinctive look was their signature. Spleenwort was for spleen problems, snakeroot was for snake bite, liverwort was for liver problems, and so on. (Extra credit if anyone can guess what mugwort was for.)
Blessed with a sound spleen, I haven't put this plant to the test. But I do plan on putting it in my garden, and maybe you should too.
