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Dryopteris dilatata; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2026-09-16

Dryopteris dilatata (Hoffm.) A.Gray

Broad buckler-fern; Common Buckler-fern; Broad wood fern; Mountain wood fern

Dryopteridaceae · Denmark, Finland +36 · listed by its genus as a fern or moss

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Dryopteris dilatata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedDryopteris dilatata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedDryopteris dilatata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedDryopteris dilatata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedDryopteris dilatata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedDryopteris dilatata, photograph (c) jhatfield, some rights reserved (CC BY) 84 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-8.4°C
Record low -21.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
22°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
889mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
4–33DLI
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
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Dryopteris dilatata, the broad buckler-fern, is a robust species of deciduous or semievergreen fern in the family Dryopteridaceae, native to Europe, particularly western and central Europe. In southern Europe, it is mostly found in mountainous regions. It is also found between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. It grows to 90 cm (35 in) tall by 120 cm (47 in) wide, with dark green tripinnate fronds, the ribs covered in brown scales.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Dryopteris dilatata", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Dryopteris

Dryopteris, commonly called the wood ferns, male ferns, or buckler ferns, is a fern genus in the family Dryopteridaceae, subfamily Dryopteridoideae, according to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). There are about 300-400 species in the genus. The species are distributed in Asia, the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Pacific islands, with the highest diversity in eastern Asia. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Cultivation

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

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (641 mm of 889 mm) takes 8 months, June to January. Mean temperature moves 14.9 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to July.

Rain

889 mm in the median year at the habitat, 641 mm of it June to January. Wettest months (3 at 83 mm), driest month April at 48 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 791 mm to 1,340 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 889 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 889 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: 4 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 3, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -8.4 °C, the absolute minimum -21.6 °C, 2,598 frost nights in 44 years, 59.0 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 0.4 °C in January and February (across the grid cells of the range -3.5 °C to 3.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 21.7 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -8.4 °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: 60 to 69% 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 -50 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 genus Dryopteris 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, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Dryopteris dilatata through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 22 °C; coldest months January and February, mean nightly low 0.4 °C; 889 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, northern hemisphere.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost30.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-21.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 4–33RH 60–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 489 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 °C5 / 3–76 / 4–79 / 7–1013 / 10–1417 / 14–1820 / 16–2022 / 18–2321 / 18–2218 / 16–1914 / 12–159 / 7–106 / 3–8
Night °C0 / -4–30 / -3–33 / 0–45 / 3–69 / 7–911 / 10–1214 / 12–1514 / 12–1511 / 9–138 / 6–104 / 1–61 / -2–4
Rain mm80 / 68–10961 / 53–8871 / 58–10448 / 44–8668 / 58–10475 / 56–10182 / 58–10977 / 61–11778 / 65–11183 / 72–12583 / 70–11783 / 74–118
DLI5 / 4–810 / 9–1317 / 16–2127 / 25–3032 / 32–3533 / 33–3832 / 32–3727 / 26–3119 / 18–2311 / 10–156 / 5–94 / 3–6
RH %68 / 65–6965 / 63–6763 / 62–6560 / 59–6360 / 59–6361 / 59–6461 / 59–6462 / 60–6463 / 62–6565 / 64–6668 / 66–6969 / 66–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 489 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (542 records in those cells; 27 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), 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 776:3718 (51.175, 5.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -21.6 °C, 1st-percentile night -8.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.6 °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 489 distinct grid cells holding 542 of the 569 in-range records (27 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 776:3718 (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 51.00_5.625, lapse-corrected -50 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 21 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.
NativeDenmark, Finland, Føroyar, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Corse, France, Portugal, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Baltic States, Central European Russia, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine, Azores, Altay, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Iran, Turkey, Mongolia · introduced: New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Argentina South, Falkland Is. · 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 marker52.262, 4.524 · in the densest population, 332 records (54% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 611 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 542 of them in the land cells it reads, of 569 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 147 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 674 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 42 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 611 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Dryopteris dilatata, photograph 1did not loadDryopteris dilatata, photograph 2did not loadDryopteris dilatata, photograph 3did not loadDryopteris dilatata, photograph 4did not loadDryopteris dilatata, photograph 5did not loadDryopteris dilatata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (5); (c) jhatfield, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Festuca filiformis Festuca filiformis Fine-leaved Sheep's-fescue Photo: CC BY, arthur_haendlerLonicera periclymenum Lonicera periclymenum European honeysuckle Photo: CC BY, Derek WinterburnPetasites hybridus Petasites hybridus Butterbur Photo: CC BY, guywallbanksSenecio sylvaticus Senecio sylvaticus Woodland ragwort Photo: CC0, author not statedSpergula arvensis Spergula arvensis Corn spurrey Photo: CC BY, Zeke MarshallCaltha palustris Caltha palustris Marsh marigold Photo: CC BY, Eugene Popov

Other Dryopteris 75 in the reference

Dryopteris aemula Dryopteris aemula Hay-scented Buckler-fern Photo: CC BY, Rocco LieghioDryopteris affinis Dryopteris affinis Scaly male fern Photo: CC0, pondbobDryopteris aitoniana Dryopteris aitoniana Madeira Buckler-fern Photo: CC BY, Sam J. Thomas Dryopteris × ambroseae Dryopteridaceae Dryopteris amurensis Dryopteris amurensis Amur wood fern Photo: CC BY, Violetta DzizyurovaDryopteris ardechensis Dryopteris ardechensis Cévennes Male-fern Photo: CC BY-SA, Chérif-Jacques AllaliDryopteris arguta Dryopteris arguta Coastal wood fern Photo: CC BY, Matt Berger Dryopteris assamensis Dryopteridaceae Dryopteris atrata Dryopteris atrata Shaggy shield fern Photo: CC BY, Jacy ChenDryopteris × australis Dryopteris × australis Woodfern Photo: CC BY-SA, lejones417Dryopteris bissetiana Dryopteris bissetiana Mountain buckler fern Photo: CC BY, Yoshihiro TokueDryopteris blanfordii Dryopteris blanfordii Dryopteridaceae Photo: Public domain, Stickpen all 76 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Aspidium spinulosum subsp. dilatatum; Aspidium spinulosum var. dilatatum; Dryopteris austriaca; Dryopteris austriaca var. austriaca; Dryopteris austriaca var. dilatata and 3 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Dryopteridaceae
Described by
(Hoffm.) A.Gray
Native to
Denmark, Finland, Føroyar +35
Wild records
611 in range · 147 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 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence search API; 13 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (7 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 6 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 51.00_5.625, lapse-corrected -50 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 2026-10-22
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 12 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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