Asplenium ceterach

Perennial of the Aspleniaceae family, this fern is widely distributed across Southern and Central Europe, the Mediterranean basin, Western Asia, and the Caucasus. It colonizes rock crevices, old walls, dry stone walls, and sunny rocky screes, mainly on limestone substrates, from sea level up to about 2,000 meters in altitude.

It forms small, dense, and arched rosettes, 5 to 20 cm in height, with pinnatisect, leathery fronds, medium to dark green on the upper side and entirely covered on the underside with overlapping silvery to reddish scales, which completely mask the sori and give the plant its most distinctive appearance. During drought periods, the fronds curl up on themselves, exposing their whitish scaly side, and the plant enters a state of slowed life from which it remarkably quickly emerges as soon as moisture returns.

This capacity for reviviscence, exceptional among ferns, earned it a medicinal reputation since Antiquity: used in decoction against liver and spleen ailments, it long bore the popular name of golden herb or golden fern. In its natural habitat, sporulation occurs from June to September.

In cultivation, it requires a very well-drained limestone substrate, a sunny to semi-shaded exposure, and tolerates prolonged drought periods once established. It naturally integrates into stone walls and dry rock gardens.