Fronds simple, lobed, or 1–3-pinnate; lamina glabrous or bearing small clathrate scales, sometimes giving rise to proliferous vegetative buds; veins free or sometimes anastomosing near the margin.
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Fronds simple and undivided, or lobed in the basal region only | 2 |
| Fronds pinnatifid to pinnate or more compound | 5 |
| 2 | Fronds sessile or nearly so, simple, entire, 50–180 cm long, 3–21 cm wide forming litter catching rosettes | 3 |
| Fronds with stipe 4–6 cm long; lamina simple or irregularly lobed at the base, to 35 cm long and 1–5 cm wide
Back to 1 | Asplenium attenuatum |
| 3 | Fronds with narrow erect habit, dull green with a glaucous bloom, margin thickened slightly recurved. Endemic to Lord Howe Island | Asplenium goudeyi |
| Fronds widely spreading, light green, often glossy, margins flat
Back to 2 | 4 |
| 4 | Fronds with lamina abruptly narrowing at the base | Asplenium australasicum |
| Fronds with lamina long-tapering at the base
Back to 3 | Asplenium harmanii |
| 5 | Sori appearing marginal | 6 |
| Sori superficial
Back to 1 | 9 |
| 6 | Sori 2 or more on each secondary pinna, 2–4 mm long | 7 |
| Sori solitary on each secondary pinna, 2–7 mm long
Back to 5 | 8 |
| 7 | Mostly epiphytic. Ultimate segments lanceolate >10 mm long | Asplenium bulbiferum |
| Terrestrial. Ultimate segments cuneate rhomboid 1–25 mm long. Rare, endemic to Lord Howe Island
Back to 6 | Asplenium pteridoides |
| 8 | Fronds pendant, 1–2 pinnate, pinnae often deeply pinnatisect | Asplenium flaccidum |
| Fronds erect to arching, pinnate, margins of pinnae regularly and deeply divided
Back to 6 | Asplenium surrogatum |
| 9 | Fronds either 1-pinnatifid or 1-pinnate then pinnae often toothed but not lobed | 10 |
| Fronds either 2-pinnate or 1-pinnate then pinnae pinnatifid or pinnatisect
Back to 5 | 14 |
| 10 | Pinnae with long, acuminate apices; rhizome medium creeping | Asplenium polyodon |
| Pinnae with acute to obtuse apices; rhizome very short-creeping or tufted
Back to 9 | 11 |
| 11 | Fronds with lamina thick and almost fleshy; pinnae >20 mm long | 12 |
| Fronds with lamina thin, not thick or almost fleshy; pinnae <20 mm long
Back to 10 | 13 |
| 12 | Fronds dull pale green; pinnae gradually reducing to a broard elongated terminal pinnule. Confined to coastal habitats | Asplenium decurrens |
| Fronds shiny light green; pinnae gradually reduced to a narrow elongated terminal pinnule. Endemic to Lord Howe Island
Back to 11 | Asplenium milnei |
| 13 | Fronds weak, procumbent, the rachis often extending beyond the uppermost pinnae, proliferating and rooting close to the apex | Asplenium flabellifolium |
| Fronds erect or almost so, the rachis never exceeding the uppermost pinnae, not proliferous
Back to 11 | Asplenium trichomanes |
| 14 | Scales of rhizome c. 15 mm long and >1 mm wide; frond thick, cartilaginous to almost succulent | Asplenium difforme |
| Scales of the rhizome c. 6 mm long and <1 mm wide; laminas never thick and cartilaginous
Back to 9 | 15 |
| 15 | Fronds pale green, membranous and translucent, at least partly 2-pinnate, the second order segments often free and on distinct stalks, apices rounded | Asplenium hookerianum |
| Fronds dark green, leathery, not 2-pinnate, mostly 1-pinnate with pinnae more or less pinnatisect, the second order segments wedge-shaped, notched, never free and stalked
Back to 14 | Asplenium aethiopicum |
