Asplenium ruprechtii
species of plant
Asplenium ruprechtii, which goes by the common name Asian walking fern, is a rare, hardy, low-lying fern native to East Asia. It is a close relative of Asplenium rhizophyllum (syn: Camptosorus rhizophyllus) which is found in North America and also goes by the common name of walking fern. The species should not be confused with Asplenium sibiricum which is a synonym of Diplazium sibiricum.
Description
The name walking fern was derived from the way the fern spreads. The underside of each leaf contain sori, and when the tip of the leaf touches the ground, new plantlets sprout, creating a "walking" effect.
The evergreen, undivided, slightly leathery leaves are triangular and taper to a thin point. Sori, the spore-bearing structures, are distributed in clusters along the veins on the underside of the leaves. The plant can be found in the shady areas of limestone ledges and in limy forest places. Asplenium ruprechtii is smaller than its relative, Asplenium rhizophyllum, and usually has cuneate bases to its fronds, whereas A. rhizophyllum usually has cordate frond bases.
Taxonomy
A global phylogeny of Asplenium published in 2020 divided the genus into eleven clades, which were given informal names pending further taxonomic study.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Asplenium ruprechtii” as species of plant. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of plant. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 21, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q258747. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2020.
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This entry incorporates text from “Asplenium ruprechtii” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.