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Arachniodes aristata; photograph (c) Yu-Huang Wang, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Yu-Huang Wang, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-04

Arachniodes aristata (G.Forst.) Tindale

East Indian Hollyfern

Dryopteridaceae · Solomon Is., Kermadec Is. +12 · listed by its family as a fern or moss

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Arachniodes aristata, photograph (c) Yu-Huang Wang, some rights reserved (CC BY)Arachniodes aristata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedArachniodes aristata, photograph (c) 黃美滿, some rights reserved (CC BY)Arachniodes aristata, photograph (c) 黃美滿, some rights reserved (CC BY)Arachniodes aristata, photograph (c) crothfels, some rights reserved (CC BY)Arachniodes aristata, photograph (c) crothfels, some rights reserved (CC BY) 76 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
16.9°C
Record low 15.2 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Jan, Feb, Mar and Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,382mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
22–41DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to November (November to May at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Arachniodes aristata is a species of fern in the family Dryopteridaceae. It is a glossy fern with fronds up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) long. The type specimen was collected by George Forster at an unknown island in the Pacific Ocean, when travelling on the second voyage of James Cook. This plant was first formally named Polypodium aristatum in 1786 in the Florulae Insularum Australium Prodromus, published by his father Johann Reinhold Forster. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Arachniodes aristata", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a fern or moss, listed under the family Dryopteridaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “perennial”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,675 mm of 2,347 mm) falls in November to May, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.1 °C against a yearly mean of 22.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to November.

Rain

2,347 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,675 mm of it November to May. Wettest month February at 297 mm, driest month July at 126 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,593 mm to 3,149 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,382 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,347 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 16.9 °C, the absolute minimum 15.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 28.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 17.6 °C in August (across the grid cells of the range 14.5 °C to 21.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.4 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 16.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +406 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the family Dryopteridaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “perennial”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Arachniodes aristata through the yearWarmest months January, February, March and April, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month August, mean nightly low 17.6 °C; 2,347 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°28.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER15.2° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 22–41RH 62–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 18 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 23–2826 / 23–2826 / 23–2726 / 22–2724 / 20–2623 / 19–2522 / 18–2422 / 17–2423 / 18–2523 / 19–2624 / 21–2725 / 22–28
Night °C23 / 19–2523 / 19–2523 / 19–2522 / 19–2520 / 17–2419 / 16–2318 / 15–2218 / 15–2218 / 15–2219 / 16–2221 / 18–2322 / 18–24
Rain mm283 / 141–490297 / 178–401267 / 182–431237 / 124–349182 / 113–241139 / 95–189126 / 68–196134 / 83–175131 / 60–181142 / 69–189164 / 110–255245 / 136–333
DLI40 / 36–4438 / 34–4033 / 31–3729 / 27–3124 / 21–2622 / 18–2523 / 20–2627 / 25–2933 / 31–3638 / 37–4041 / 38–4341 / 37–45
RH %67 / 63–7268 / 63–7268 / 64–7366 / 62–7264 / 61–7063 / 60–6962 / 59–6862 / 60–6862 / 60–6763 / 60–6864 / 61–6965 / 62–71
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 18 grid cells holding the 29 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2156:7152 (-17.825, 177.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 15.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 16.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 18 distinct grid cells holding 29 of the 29 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2156:7152 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -18.00_177.500, lapse-corrected +406 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 505 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeSolomon Is., Kermadec Is., Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-21.642, 165.922 · in the densest population, 48 records (39% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 122 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 29 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 114 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 82 km away. 1358 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 93 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 122 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Arachniodes aristata, photograph 1did not loadArachniodes aristata, photograph 2did not loadArachniodes aristata, photograph 3did not loadArachniodes aristata, photograph 4did not loadArachniodes aristata, photograph 5did not loadArachniodes aristata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Yu-Huang Wang, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0; (c) 黃美滿, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) crothfels, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Cyperus aromaticus Cyperus aromaticus Navua sedge Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitreCynorkis fastigiata Cynorkis fastigiata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Jason BergerArillastrum gummiferum Arillastrum gummiferum Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Jean-Pierre Chéreau & Roger CulosDigitaria didactyla Digitaria didactyla Blue couch Photo: CC0, author not statedHalfordia kendack Halfordia kendack Saffron-heart Photo: CC BY, Bryce Watts-ParkerNeoregelia johannis Neoregelia johannis Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Bruno Henrique Aranda

Other Arachniodes 9 in the reference

Arachniodes amabilis Arachniodes amabilis Dryopteridaceae Photo: CC BY, りなべるArachniodes denticulata Arachniodes denticulata Dryopteridaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedArachniodes miqueliana Arachniodes miqueliana Miquel's Bristle Fern Photo: CC0, author not statedArachniodes mutica Arachniodes mutica Asian hairy-scale hollyfern Photo: CC BY, Илья РуденкоArachniodes pseudoaristata Arachniodes pseudoaristata Dryopteridaceae Photo: CC BY, Kiwi ShenArachniodes rhomboidea Arachniodes rhomboidea Attractive hollyfern Photo: CC BY, 黃美滿Arachniodes simplicior Arachniodes simplicior Simpler hollyfern Photo: CC BY, りなべるArachniodes standishii Arachniodes standishii Upside-down Fern Photo: CC BY, Timur KalininskyArachniodes webbiana Arachniodes webbiana Madeira Holly Fern Photo: CC BY, Vítor Jorge

Names & registers

Also known as Arachniodes fengyangshanensis; Aspidium aristatum; Byrsopteris aristata; Dryopteris aristata; Lastrea aristata and 7 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Dryopteridaceae
Described by
(G.Forst.) Tindale
Native to
Solomon Is., Kermadec Is., Fiji +11
Wild records
122 in range · 114 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 51 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (47 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 3 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -18.00_177.500, lapse-corrected +406 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 100 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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