Asplenium x sarniense Guernsey Spleenwort RR DD N
This hybrid between Asplenium adiantum-nigrum (Black Spleenwort) and Asplenium obovatum (Lanceolate Spleenwort) was unknown to Science until as late as 1971 and is a sterile hybrid between these two very similar looking Spleenworts. This one was hidden deep in a bank of vegetation and it was quite surprising that it had survived. Quite a few hybrids have been found in Guernsey, all different and some needing microscopic examination to prove they are hybrids and not A. adiantum-nigrum.
Stace does not mark this as rare but it must be surely?
One of the questions we field botanists ask each other when confronted with a plant difficult to identify such as this is:
If I saw it again would I recognise it? Answer: Probably not....
Les Domains, Guernsey, 20th June 2004
Added on November 12th 2004, updated 17th October 2008, updated 28th Feb 2010, updated Se3 April 26th 2010