The stipe (the stalk of the leaf, below the blade) is 0.5 to 1.5 centimeters (0.20 to 0.59 in) long in medium-sized specimens and a glossy dark brown in color.

[5] The pinnae are sessile (stalkless),[4] and may have a variety of shapes: roughly triangular, with one side distinctly longer than the other, lance-shaped, or slightly curved.

Among orthospecies, it is most similar to A. platyneuron, from which it can be distinguished by its elongated blade tip, the green color on the apical one-eighth of its rachis,[5] and, microscopically, by its abortive spores.

[4] It is easily distinguished from A. tutwilerae, which has fewer pinnae which are more pointed and dramatically irregular, and a longer stipe and shorter leaf blade.

[10] Walter described the species in 1982, naming it ×Asplenosorus boydstonae in honor of Kathryn E. Boydston, an expert in the artificial culture of spleenworts and other ferns.

He placed it in ×Asplenosorus to indicate its descent from walking fern, one of the hybrid parents of Tutwiler's spleenwort, which was often placed in the genus Camptosorus instead of Asplenium.

[12] Since then, phylogenetic studies have shown that Camptosorus nests within Asplenium,[13][14] and current treatments do not recognize it as a separate genus.

[10] The local rock is a conglomerate, with siliceous pebbles cemented in sandstone of the Pottsville Formation, which contains iron and small amounts of calcium.