Montane. Rocks. Summer.
Near Pagosa Springs, August 20, 2005.

Asplenium septentrionale is found in scattered populations in a number of western states.  In the Four Corners, it is found in the Abajos in Utah and near Pagosa Springs in Colorado.  It is, according to Weber, "widely scattered in the mountains of the Northern Hemisphere, including Altai, The Alps, Pyrenees, Caucasus, and Scandinavia."  Its bright green narrow fronds are often forked at the tips and it overall appears to be a small clump of grass tucked into a crevice.

The genus was named by Linnaeus in 1753.  "Asplenon", from the Greek "a" ("without") and "splen" ("spleen") was the name given by Dioscorides to a fern which he believe had the power to cure spleen diseases.  "Septentrionale" is Latin for "northern".

Montane. Rocks. Summer.
Near Pagosa Springs, August 20, 2005.

Spores line the under side of the fronds.