55 photographs › At a glance
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun, shaded
- Jul, shaded
- Aug, shaded
- Sep, shaded
- Oct, shaded
- Nov
- Dec
Summary
Phlebodium areolatum, the Virginia blue fern, is a species of epiphytic fern in the family Polypodiaceae. It is native to the New World Tropics and Subtropics; Mexico, Florida, some of the Caribbean islands, Central America, and South America to Argentina, and has been introduced to India. As its synonym Phlebodium pseudoaureum it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Phlebodium areolatum", CC BY-SA 4.0; its title is one of this species' older names (GBIF Backbone), which is the proof that the article is this species'.
About the genus · Phlebodium
Phlebodium is a small genus of ferns in the family Polypodiaceae, subfamily Polypodioideae, according to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. Its species were formerly included in Polypodium.
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Phlebodium", CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cultivation
Grouped as a fern or moss, listed under the genus Phlebodium in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “rhizomatous geophyte”.
Seasons
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,110 mm of 1,475 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.1 °C against a yearly mean of 18.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.
Rain
1,475 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,110 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 258 mm, driest month March at 29 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 740 mm to 2,747 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,587 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,475 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: 29 to 42 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 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).
Warmth and air
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 3.9 °C, the absolute minimum -4.8 °C, 5 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 9.9 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 5.4 °C to 17.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.4 °C in April and May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 3.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).
Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 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 +306 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 Phlebodium in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “rhizomatous geophyte”. 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
Mean daily high from 21 °C in Jan and Dec to 25 °C in Apr and May; mean nightly low from 10 °C in Jan and Feb to 15 °C in May, Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low, centred on the 2 months in a row that tie for it. 1,475 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 438 habitat cells. Over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER) the absolute minimum was -4.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 21 / 17–25 | 22 / 19–26 | 24 / 20–28 | 25 / 22–29 | 25 / 22–29 | 24 / 20–28 | 23 / 20–28 | 23 / 20–28 | 23 / 19–27 | 22 / 19–27 | 22 / 18–26 | 21 / 17–25 |
| Night °C | 10 / 5–18 | 10 / 6–18 | 12 / 7–18 | 13 / 9–19 | 15 / 11–20 | 15 / 11–21 | 15 / 11–21 | 15 / 11–21 | 15 / 11–21 | 14 / 9–20 | 12 / 7–19 | 11 / 6–18 |
| Rain mm | 39 / 9–119 | 33 / 10–112 | 29 / 7–105 | 55 / 11–132 | 107 / 35–232 | 231 / 101–375 | 237 / 107–401 | 229 / 107–394 | 258 / 111–456 | 155 / 52–328 | 60 / 12–222 | 42 / 6–159 |
| DLI | 31 / 23–34 | 35 / 27–39 | 40 / 32–45 | 42 / 35–48 | 41 / 36–46 | 36 / 31–41 | 36 / 32–41 | 36 / 31–40 | 32 / 28–37 | 31 / 27–35 | 30 / 24–34 | 29 / 22–33 |
| RH % | 62 / 51–69 | 61 / 49–68 | 59 / 46–66 | 60 / 46–66 | 63 / 51–67 | 67 / 59–70 | 66 / 61–72 | 67 / 61–71 | 68 / 62–73 | 66 / 59–71 | 64 / 54–69 | 63 / 52–69 |
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Juan Cruzado Cortés, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) EstebanMH, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Dan Riley, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
Solandra maxima Cup of gold Photo: CC BY, Fabrício Mil Homens Riella
Equisetum myriochaetum Mexican Giant Horsetail Photo: CC BY, Alexis López Hernández
Blechnum appendiculatum Palm fern Photo: CC0, author not stated
Isochilus chiriquensis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Lesley Aguirre
Stelis emarginata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
Cestrum tomentosum Solanaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Ángela María Gómez MOther Phlebodium 2 in the reference
Phlebodium aureum Gold-foot fern Photo: CC BY, Lexi Amico
Phlebodium decumanum Creeping golden polypody Photo: CC BY, Natan Gabriel Names & registers
Also known as Chrysopteris araneosa; Chrysopteris areolata; Chrysopteris glauca; Chrysopteris glaucina; Chrysopteris lanosa and 29 more. (GBIF Backbone)
The record
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 answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 32 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (13 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 16 at a herbarium, 3 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)climate answeredasked 2026-10-22climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 19.00_-96.875, lapse-corrected +306 m at 6.5 °C/kmwikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22Wikipedia redirects Phlebodium pseudoaureum to Phlebodium areolatum, an older name of this species (Phlebodium areolatum)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 2026-10-22inat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery 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 142 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.