Asplenium Ruta-Muraria -this pretty little fern can be easily identified in the field, since nothing else does look like it, and its habitat is very limited. However, random observers rarely see this species, since it grows along high cliffs and on rocky outfits.
Description Asplenium Ruta-Muraria
Asplenium Ruta-Muraria to the family of fern, which has about 700 species around the world. This is a very small epipetric species, growing exclusively on limestone and other limestone rocks. Its leaves are bluish-green and strongly divided into parts, reaching 12 cm in length.
The pond bonfire is very drought resistant and is a good candidate for the Garden of Stones. It can not be watered at all, except for periods of long dry weather. For healthy plants, good, quick drainage is important. To improve drainage, add sand, perlite, or vermiculite to the soil. In the gardens where heavy clay prevails, use raised beds with prepared soil.
Do not fertilize the bonfire. Excess nutrients will force plants to produce more foliage. Asplenium ruta-muraria flowers grow best to the full sun, but partial shading is also allowed.
Appearance
- Leaves up to 10 cm long, twice or three times surround, green, naked. The needles are next, 1-3 cm long. Cirrus leaves spatula, with gear or only toothed apical edge;
- The flowers are not formed. Sporangia are black, with 32 disputes in each;
- Disputes are formed from May to September.
Where it grows
The plant prefers light or semi-pros places, rarely in the full sun. Grows on dry soils, poor nutrients (oligotrophic) with neutral or alkaline pH, mainly on rocky slopes, crevices and talus, as well as on a thin layer of soil on rocks and rocks. This is a characteristic type of Potentilletalia Caulescentis and Asplenium Truchomano-Rutae-Muriae Association. This is one of the most common species of ferns that live in anthropogenic places, such as city walls and walls of buildings, where the lime mortar was used.
A postponed can be found growing both in North America and in Europe. Its distribution reminds us of the great land bridges connecting the continents in those days when the ocean level was much lower than today. The specific epithet “Ruta-Muraria” is approximately translated as “bitter grass of walls”. The general name demonstrates the place of growth of the plant. Along with the general name, these words seem to hint at where this tiny fern likes to grow. Cracks in the walls of European houses create a favorable microclimate for the dispute of fern, which quickly develops in suitable conditions.
In North America, Asplenium is pickier. The main environment of its habitat, limestone, formed on the territory of the Ancient Sea, covering part of North America in the Silurian period about 443.8-419.2 million years ago. If it were not for the solid remains of ancient marine organisms, the bonfire of the postage and many other species of plants would not have appeared here, at least in the form in which we know them.
Red Book
A postponed bonfire is a chalcophile, that is, it can only be found in abundance only on natural limestone outfits. As a result, for most of the continent, it is considered a type of disappearance. On the territory of Eurasia, the plant is listed in the Red Book.
