Species
+

Psilotum nudum (L.) P.Beauv.

Pätoatoa, taakivao, Skeleton Fork Fern, Whisk Fern, Whisk Fern (EN); Nacktfarn (DE)

Climate known 66 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Psilotum nudum, the whisk fern, is a species of fern in the order Psilotales. Like the other species in this order, it lacks roots.

Text from Wikipedia, “Psilotum nudum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Psilotum

Psilotum is a genus of fern-like vascular plants. It is one of two genera in the family Psilotaceae commonly known as whisk ferns, the other being Tmesipteris. Plants in these two genera were once thought to be descended from the earliest surviving vascular plants, but more recent phylogenies place them as basal ferns, as a sister group to Ophioglossales. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Psilotum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Psilotaceae
Described by
(L.) P.Beauv.
Native to
Spain, Cape Verde, Ghana +145
Wild records
1659 in range· 925 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Aug, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1532mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 159 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–35DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (February, April to September and December in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1532 mm a year, wettest June at 159 mm, driest January at 103 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 5.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Bernhardia antillarum Müll.Berol.; Bernhardia antillarum Müll.Hal.; Bernhardia capensis Müll.Berol.; Bernhardia deppeana Müll.Berol.; Bernhardia deppeana Müll.Hal. and 27 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (February, April to September and December in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (1105 mm of 1532 mm) takes 8 months, February, April to September and December. Mean temperature moves 4.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March, June and August.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1532 mm a year, wettest June at 159 mm, driest January at 103 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1532 mm a year at the habitat, 1105 mm of it February, April to September and December. Wettest month June at 159 mm, driest January at 103 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1031 mm to 3096 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 5.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 5.5 °C, the absolute minimum -1.6 °C, 11 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 18.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells 10.2 °C to 24.2 °C), warmest day 27.1 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 5.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 24 °C in Jan to 27 °C in Aug; mean night from 18 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1532 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 995 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -1.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost33.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-1.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 28–35RH 61–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 995 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C24 / 17–2924 / 18–2924 / 20–2825 / 19–2826 / 19–3026 / 16–3127 / 16–3127 / 17–3127 / 19–3026 / 20–2925 / 19–2824 / 18–29
Night °C18 / 10–2418 / 12–2418 / 13–2419 / 14–2421 / 13–2422 / 10–2523 / 9–2623 / 10–2622 / 12–2521 / 13–2419 / 13–2418 / 12–24
Rain mm103 / 41–333116 / 53–300115 / 62–290116 / 60–249126 / 55–291159 / 42–358154 / 39–313158 / 39–338159 / 39–313105 / 55–278104 / 49–259117 / 39–276
DLI29 / 18–4333 / 21–3933 / 26–3933 / 24–4233 / 19–4332 / 17–4235 / 18–4234 / 24–4033 / 28–3933 / 25–4129 / 19–4228 / 17–43
RH %62 / 58–6862 / 58–6962 / 57–6862 / 57–6962 / 58–6963 / 58–6963 / 56–6963 / 55–6863 / 56–6861 / 57–6861 / 58–6861 / 57–68

Each figure is the median across the 995 grid cells holding the 1579 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1254:1948 (27.275, -82.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 5.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 995 distinct grid cells holding the 1579 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1254:1948 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 27.50_-82.500, lapse-corrected -10 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeSpain, Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast, Japan, Korea, Kazan-retto, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Christmas I., New Guinea, Solomon Is., Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, Kermadec Is., New Zealand North, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Santa Cruz Is., Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Cook Is., Line Is., Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Hawaii, Arizona, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexican Pacific Is., Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, C. American Pacific Is., El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay, Uruguay· introduced: Canary Is., Madeira, California
Kew's description“perennial or epiphyte” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker25.039, 121.521 · in the densest population, 434 records (26% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1659 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 925 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 78 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 80 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1659 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Psilotum nudumPsilotum nudumPsilotum nudumPsilotum nudumPsilotum nudumPsilotum nudumPsilotum nudumPsilotum nudum

Photographs: (c) Douglas Goldman, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (6); (c) Ethan, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0.

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Psilotum nudum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Complete plastome sequences of Equisetum arvense and Isoetes flaccida: implications for phylogeny and plastid genome evolution of early land plant lineages
Kenneth G. Karol, Kathiravetpillai Arumuganathan, Jeffrey L. Boore, Aaron M. Duffy (2010) · BMC Evolutionary Biology
Stomatal Blue Light Response Is Present in Early Vascular Plants
Michio Doi, Yuki Kitagawa, Ken‐ichiro Shimazaki (2015) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Diverse chalcone synthase superfamily enzymes from the most primitive vascular plant, Psilotum nudum
Yasuyo Yamazaki, Dae‐Yeon Suh, Worapan Sitthithaworn, Kazuhiko Ishiguro (2001) · Planta

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 142 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.