5. Asplenium resiliens Kunze (little ebony spleenwort, blackstem spleenwort) Pl. 2a,b; Map 5

Leaves 5–30 cm long, monomorphic. Petioles black their entire length, shiny, the color extending to nearly the tip of the rachis. Leaf blades pinnately compound, linear in outline. Pinnae mostly opposite to subopposite on the rachis, 3–12 mm long, the median pinnae (5–)7–12 mm long, oblong to ovate, the margins entire or shallowly toothed, mostly shallowly auriculate at the base of the upper margin, the base truncate to wedge-shaped, not overlapping the rachis. Veins not anastomosing. Spores 32 per sporangium. 2n=108 (apogamous). May–October.

Scattered throughout the Ozark and Ozark Border Divisions, and locally north to St. Louis and Jackson Counties (southern U.S. north to Utah and Pennsylvania, south to South America; West Indies). Shaded crevices and ledges of dolomite and limestone bluffs and boulders.

This species has not been reported to hybridize with any other species of Asplenium present in Missouri, presumably because of its apogamous reproductive cycle.