''Asplenium trichomanes'' subsp. ''coriaceifolium'' is an allotetraploid hybrid fern (2''n'' = 144 chromosomes) of the family

Aspleniaceae The Aspleniaceae (spleenworts) are a family of ferns, included in the order Polypodiales. The composition and classification of the family have been subject to considerable changes. In particular, there is a narrow circumscription, Aspleniaceae ...

. It was found for the first time in the Soller Valley in the

Serra de Tramuntana The Serra de Tramuntana (, es, Sierra de Tramontana) is a mountain range running southwest–northeast which forms the northern backbone of the Spanish island of Mallorca. It is also the name given to the comarca of the same area. On 27 June 201 ...

of the island of

Mallorca, Spain Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bale ...

, and described by both Spanish and German botanists at the same time. The Spaniards gave it the name ''Asplenium azomanes''. Its fronds are coriacea as plastic and the rachis is very thick, dark garnet color and brilliance. A typical feature of this fern is the existence of a small atrium at the base of the pinnae medium and lower geared towards the apex of the frond with one or two sori in its underside. Sporulation occurs from October to March.

Habitat

It lives among the stones of the walls of the terraces and in the crevices of limestone rocks oriented to the north and northwest. Depending on the degree of exposure to the sun, its phenotype changes a lot, becoming more coriaceous the more sunlight it receives. In the driest months of summer comes into estivation, dehydrating their fronds, reaching apparently dead. With the first rains of autumn, the fern rehydrate the dried fronds and turn green quickly.

Distribution

Its population is distributed in three locations separated by the Mediterranean Sea: the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

(Mallorca,

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

and

Formentera Formentera (, ) is the smallest and most southerly island of the Pityusic Islands group (comprising Ibiza and Formentera, as well as various small islets), which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community (Spain). It covers an area of ...

), south of the Iberian Peninsula (Albacete, Jaen, Malaga and Cadiz) and the north of Morocco (from Chefchaouen in Western Rif until the rocks surrounding the Caves of Chameau in Mountains of Beni Snassen).

Hybrids

*''Asplenium × tubalense'' (''Asplenium trichomanes'' nothosubsp. ''barreraense''): allotetraploid hybrid between ''Asplenium trichomanes'' subsp. ''coriaceifolium'' and ''Asplenium trichomanes'' subsp. ''quadrivalens''. *''Asplenium trichomanes'' nothosubsp. ''malacitense'': hexaploid hybrid between ''Asplenium trichomanes'' subsp. ''coriaceifolium'' and ''Asplenium trichomanes'' subsp. ''inexpectans''.

References

''Asplenium trichomanes'' subsp. ''coriaceifolium'' (''Asplenium azomanes'') in the Natural Park of Sierra de Grazalema''Asplenium trichomanes subsp. coriaceifolium'' in Morocco
* "Les falgueres de les Balears", de Guillem Alomar, Edicions Documenta Balear S.L., in Catalan language. {{Taxonbar, from=Q2134282 trichomanes subsp. coriaceifolium Plant subspecies Flora of the Balearic Islands