Asplenium nidus

Asplenium nidus is an epiphytic species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae, native to tropical southeastern Asia, eastern Australia, Hawaii (ʻēkaha in Hawaiian), Polynesia, Christmas Island, India, and eastern Africa. It is known by the common names bird's-nest fern (a name shared by some other aspleniums) or simply nest fern.

Description

Asplenium nidus forms large simple fronds visually similar to banana leaves, with the fronds growing to 50–150 centimetres (20–59 in) long and 10–20 centimetres (3.9–7.9 in) broad, with occasional individuals up to 200 cm (79 in) long by up to 60 cm (24 in) wide. They are light green, often crinkled, with a black midrib, and exhibit circinate vernation. Spores develop in sori on the underside of the fronds. These sori form long rows extending out from the midrib on the back of the outer part of the lamina (frond). The fronds roll back as they brown and create a massive leaf nest in the branches and trunks of trees. Some plants in the Philippines have fronds up to 135 cm (53 in) long while only 3.7 cm (1.5 in) wide.

Taxonomy

Linnaeus was the first to describe bird's-nest fern with the binomial Asplenium nidus in his Species Plantarum of 1753.