Asplenium rhizophyllum one collection on sandstone in the Shawnee Hills of Illinois. A triploid hybrid between walking fern and Tutwiler's spleenwort was accidentally produced in culture. A similar plant collected from limestone in Shepherdstown, West Virginia could have originated from the same parents, from an unreduced (diploid) gametophyte of Scott's spleenwort crossed with walking fern, or from an unreduced walking fern gametophyte crossed with ebony spleenwort. In 1813, Henry Muhlenberg listed lobed spleenwort as "Asplenium rhizophyllum" var. "pinnatifidum", although he did not provide a description distinguishing the variety from the typical species. It was described as the species "A. pinnatifidum" by Thomas
Plant cell quite elongated, and may divide transversely to give a septate appearance. The role of this cell type is to support the plant in axes still growing in length, and to confer flexibility and tensile strength on tissues. The primary wall lacks lignin that would make it tough and rigid, so this cell type provides what could be called plastic support – support that can hold a young stem or petiole into the air, but in cells that can be stretched as the cells around them elongate. Stretchable support (without elastic snap-back) is a good way to describe what collenchyma does.