• Image of Asplenium tutwilerae taken at Juniper Level Botanic Gdn, NC by JLBG
    Juniper Level Botanic Gdn, NC by JLBG
  • Image of Asplenium tutwilerae taken at Juniper Level Botanic Gdn, NC by JLBG
    Juniper Level Botanic Gdn, NC by JLBG
  • Image of Asplenium tutwilerae taken at Juniper Level Botanic Gdn, NC by JLBG
    Juniper Level Botanic Gdn, NC by JLBG
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Asplenium tutwilerae

Tutwiler's Spleenwort

This plant is not currently for sale. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.

Shop Available Asplenium

Item #: 5360

Zones: 5a to 8b

Dormancy: Evergreen

Height: 6" tall

Culture: Light Shade

Origin: United States

Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)


Asplenium tutwilerae is an unusual, and very rare, naturally-occurring fern from Alabama (formerly xAsplenosorus) that originated as the result of a historical conjugal visit between two native species, Asplenium platyneuron and the walking fern, Asplenium rhizophyllum. The same hybrid, published in 1865 as Asplenium ebenoides is a sterile diploid, while this hybrid, discovered in Hale County, Alabama, by botanist Julia Tutwiler in 1873, is a fertile allotetraploid. The 6" tall x 10" wide, rock garden-sized, evergreen lithophyte (rock grower) prefers slightly moist alkaline soils. When established, Asplenium tutwilerae will occasionally produce plantlets on the leaf tips, thanks to the walking fern genes...gotta love those unusual breeding occurrences from Alabama.