Asplenium surrogatum

Asplenium surrogatum is a species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae.^[1][2] It is endemic to Australia's subtropical Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea. It grows both terrestrially and as an epiphyte. It occurs in forest at high elevations on the island's mountains.^[3]

Asplenium surrogatum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Division:	Polypodiophyta
Class:	Polypodiopsida
Order:	Polypodiales
Suborder:	Aspleniineae
Family:	Aspleniaceae
Genus:	Asplenium
Species:	A. surrogatum
Binomial name
Asplenium surrogatum P.S.Green
Synonyms[1]
Asplenium lucidum var. incisum (Benth.) Bonap. Asplenium obtusatum var. incisum Benth.

Taxonomy

A global phylogeny of Asplenium published in 2020 divided the genus into eleven clades,^[4] which were given informal names pending further taxonomic study. A. surrogatum belongs to the "Neottopteris clade",^[5] members of which generally have somewhat leathery leaf tissue. It forms a clade with A. milnei and A. pteridoides, two other Lord Howe Island endemics, suggesting that all three species diverged after a single colonization of the island by their ancestor.^[6] This clade is sister to a large group of Pacific Ocean spleenworts.^[5]