[3] Asplenium trichomanes grows 10 to 30 cm tall forming tufts arising from a short, scaly rhizome.

Its range includes most of Europe and much of Asia south to Turkey, Iran and the Himalayas with a population in Yemen.

[4] It grows in rocky habitats such as cliffs, scree slopes, walls and mine waste, the type of rock used as a substrate depending on the subspecies.

It occurs on ledges and in crevices on moist, east-facing cliffs and occasionally on talus with similar conditions.

[4] Asplenium trichomanes is valued in cultivation for its hardiness (down to −20 °C (−4 °F)), its evergreen foliage and its ability to colonise crevices in stone walls.

[7] Asplenium trichomanes has diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid cytotypes, which it has been argued should be recognised as distinct species.