(5) SMALL SPLEENWORT
Asplenium párvulum. A. resíliens
Fronds four to ten inches tall, narrowly linear, rather firm, erect. Pinnæ opposite, oblong, entire or finely crenate, and auricled at the base. Stipes and rachis black and shining. Midveins continuous.
This small fern is a southern species half way between the maidenhair and ebony spleenworts, but rather more like the latter from which it differs in being smaller and thicker, and in having the fertile and sterile fronds of the same size. Mountains of Virginia to Kansas and southward.