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Asplenium ensiforme; photograph (c) 曾昱承 Yu-Cheng Zeng, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) 曾昱承 Yu-Cheng Zeng, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2024-05-04

Asplenium ensiforme Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.

Aspleniaceae · China South-Central, China Southeast +14 · listed by its genus as a fern or moss

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Asplenium ensiforme, photograph (c) vrxz, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Asplenium ensiforme, photograph (c) vrxz, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Asplenium ensiforme, photograph (c) 曾昱承 Yu-Cheng Zeng, some rights reserved (CC BY)Asplenium ensiforme, photograph (c) 曾昱承 Yu-Cheng Zeng, some rights reserved (CC BY)Asplenium ensiforme, photograph (c) 曾昱承 Yu-Cheng Zeng, some rights reserved (CC BY)Asplenium ensiforme, photograph (c) Hannah Rogers, some rights reserved (CC BY) 31 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
4.5°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,426mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
21–33DLI
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 September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

About the genus · Asplenium

Asplenium is a genus of about 700 species of ferns, often treated as the only genus in the family Aspleniaceae, though other authors consider Hymenasplenium separate, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences, a different chromosome count, and structural differences in the rhizomes. The type species for the genus is Asplenium marinum.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Asplenium", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a fern or moss, listed under the genus Asplenium in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphyte or lithophyte”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,477 mm of 3,349 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.4 °C against a yearly mean of 15.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

Rain

3,349 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,477 mm of it May to September. Wettest month July at 581 mm, driest month December at 58 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,636 mm to 4,500 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,426 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,349 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 33 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 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 4.5 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -3.7 °C to 10.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 22.6 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 4.5 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 70% 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. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. 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 genus Asplenium in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphyte or lithophyte”. 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, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Asplenium ensiforme through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 4.5 °C; 3,349 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°frost°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 21–33RH 59–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 42 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C13 / 6–1914 / 7–2217 / 11–2419 / 14–2621 / 17–2522 / 18–2623 / 19–2722 / 18–2722 / 17–2620 / 15–2317 / 12–2114 / 9–20
Night °C5 / -4–106 / -3–118 / 0–1311 / 4–1514 / 8–1816 / 11–2017 / 12–2116 / 12–2115 / 11–2013 / 7–169 / 3–136 / -1–11
Rain mm67 / 11–99131 / 17–164169 / 36–219227 / 104–308347 / 237–557532 / 207–752581 / 220–836557 / 272–861460 / 245–557152 / 98–24468 / 19–13458 / 18–89
DLI22 / 17–3124 / 19–3730 / 25–4233 / 29–4331 / 30–3930 / 24–3333 / 22–3630 / 22–3328 / 25–2927 / 23–3123 / 18–2921 / 16–29
RH %60 / 54–6361 / 53–6461 / 53–6463 / 56–6665 / 63–6968 / 65–7468 / 65–7770 / 67–7669 / 65–7366 / 61–7062 / 59–6559 / 56–63

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, +1064 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum -6.6 °C, 1st-percentile night -0.3 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 42 grid cells holding the 95 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 1329:6015 (23.525, 120.775). 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 42 distinct grid cells holding 95 of the 95 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1329:6015 (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 23.50_120.625, lapse-corrected +1064 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1751 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.
NativeChina South-Central, China Southeast, Tibet, Japan, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam · 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 marker23.483, 120.83 · in the densest population, 146 records (37% of those in range)
Kew's description“epiphyte or lithophyte” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 395 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 95 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 221 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 7 km away. 6 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 300 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 395 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Asplenium ensiforme, photograph 1did not loadAsplenium ensiforme, photograph 2did not loadAsplenium ensiforme, photograph 3did not loadAsplenium ensiforme, photograph 4did not loadAsplenium ensiforme, photograph 5did not loadAsplenium ensiforme, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) vrxz, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) 曾昱承 Yu-Cheng Zeng, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Hannah Rogers, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Vaccinium dunalianum Vaccinium dunalianum Ericaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheng-Te HsuAthyrium strigillosum Athyrium strigillosum Athyriaceae Photo: CC BY, Jacy ChenCynoglossum zeylanicum Cynoglossum zeylanicum Ceylon hound's tongue Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好Lecanthus peduncularis Lecanthus peduncularis Stalked Dischead Photo: CC BY, chiuluanConiogramme intermedia Coniogramme intermedia Intermediate bamboo fern Photo: CC0, author not statedGoniophlebium mengtzeense Goniophlebium mengtzeense Polypodiaceae Photo: CC BY, 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi)

Other Asplenium 84 in the reference

Asplenium actiniopteroides Aspleniaceae Asplenium adiantum-nigrum Asplenium adiantum-nigrum Black spleenwort Photo: CC BY, Nick ButcherAsplenium adulterinum Asplenium adulterinum Corrupt spleenwort Photo: CC BY, Daniel BuczkiewiczAsplenium aethiopicum Asplenium aethiopicum Egyptian spleenwort Photo: CC BY, Em Lamond Asplenium africanum Aspleniaceae Asplenium antiquum Asplenium antiquum Bird’s-nest fern Photo: CC BY, Cheng-Te HsuAsplenium appendiculatum Asplenium appendiculatum Aspleniaceae Photo: CC BY, avocatAsplenium aureum Asplenium aureum Golden Rustyback Fern Photo: CC BY, Mikel Etxeberria OkarizAsplenium australasicum Asplenium australasicum Bird's-nest fern Photo: CC0, author not statedAsplenium bulbiferum Asplenium bulbiferum Hen-and-chickens Photo: CC BY, 大澤風季 ohsawa_FukiAsplenium ceterach Asplenium ceterach Rustyback Photo: CC0, author not statedAsplenium cristatum Asplenium cristatum Parsley spleenwort Photo: CC BY, Liliana Ramírez-Freire all 85 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Asplenium bicuspe; Asplenium biscuspe; Asplenium ensiforme f. bicuspe; Asplenium ensiforme f. biscuspe; Asplenium ensiforme f. ensiforme and 10 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Aspleniaceae
Described by
Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.
Native to
China South-Central, China Southeast, Tibet +13
Wild records
395 in range · 221 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; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 23.50_120.625, lapse-corrected +1064 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, +1064 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21found by its label; its POWO identifier 17043090-1 is Kew's for Asplenium ensiforme Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 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 2026-10-21none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
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 36 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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