Asplenium adiantum-nigrum

Black spleenwort

A small evergreen fern with glossy, triangular, finely divided fronds on dark purple-brown stalks. It grows in crevices of acid rock, old walls, hedgebanks and open woodland across Europe, Africa and Asia, with outliers in the southwestern USA and Hawaii. It is a hardy, slow fern for a cool, bright alpine house, trough or wall garden rather than a warm terrarium.

At home, aim for

Day Cool-growingTargets in Plantistry

Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry

Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry

Light Bright, filtered lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry

Expects a seasonal restGrows on rock (lithophyte)

Where it grows wild

It grows in crevices of lime-free rocks and walls, on hedgebanks and stony banks, and in open, sunny woodland. Swiss ecological data rate it as moderately drought-tolerant, semi-shade-loving and adapted to nutrient-poor, acidic soils of pH 3.5–6.5. In Hawaii it grows on cinder cones and lava flows.

Colline to montane. The 72 records with an elevation span 214–1145 m, median 562 m; in the south of its range it reaches higher mountains.

EuropeMacaronesiaNorth AfricaTropical and southern AfricaWestern and Central AsiaHimalayaChinaTaiwanArizonaColoradoUtahHawaii

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates

✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it

✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light

✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it

✓ Substrate and airflow

✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.