Abscised spleenwort

Roots proliferous. Stems erect, unbranched; scales brown throughout, linear-deltate, 1.2 × 0.1--0.3 mm, margins entire. Leaves monomorphic. Petiole green throughout, dull, 3--15(--20) cm, 1/3--2/3 length of blade; indument absent. Blade deltate, 1-pinnate, 7--12(--20) × 3--6(--9) cm, thick, papery, glabrous; base not tapered; apex attenuate, not rooting. Rachis green throughout, dull, glabrous. Pinnae in 4--8 pairs, linear-lanceolate; medial pinnae 30--70 × 7--15 mm, slightly curved, strongly excavated in proximal basiscopic 1/3; base with small acroscopic auricle; margins entire to dentate; apex attenuate. Veins free, obscure. Sori 2--9 pairs, medial, commonly 1--2 less on basiscopic side than on acroscopic side. Spores 64 per sporangium. 2 n = 72.

Shaded limestone boulders, cliff ledges, grottoes, sinkholes; 0--50 m; Fla.; Mexico; West Indies in the Antilles; Central America; South America to Bolivia and Brazil.

Asplenium abscissum hybridizes with A . verecundum to produce the triploid hybrid, A . × curtissii .