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Woodwardia unigemmata; photograph (c) 謝麗霦, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) 謝麗霦, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-06-20

Woodwardia unigemmata (Makino) Nakai

Jewelled chain fern

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

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Woodwardia unigemmata, photograph (c) 如此甚好, some rights reserved (CC BY)Woodwardia unigemmata, photograph (c) 如此甚好, some rights reserved (CC BY)Woodwardia unigemmata, photograph (c) 如此甚好, some rights reserved (CC BY)Woodwardia unigemmata, photograph (c) 如此甚好, some rights reserved (CC BY)Woodwardia unigemmata, photograph (c) Jaw-Jian La, some rights reserved (CC BY)Woodwardia unigemmata, photograph (c) Jaw-Jian La, some rights reserved (CC BY) 61 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-3.3°C
Record low -8.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,216mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
17–35DLI
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 April 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.

Summary

Woodwardia unigemmata is a species of evergreen fern in the family Aspleniaceae. It is sometimes referred to by the common name jewelled chain fern. It is native to Assam, China (North-Central, South-Central, and Southeast), East and West Himalaya, Japan, Java, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Tibet, and Vietnam. Growing to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) tall by 2.5 m (8.2 ft) broad, it bears pinnately-divided fronds which emerge red and turn green when mature. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Woodwardia unigemmata", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Woodwardia

Woodwardia is a genus of ferns in the family Blechnaceae, in the suborder Aspleniineae of the order Polypodiales. Species are known as netted-chain ferns. The genus is native to warm temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Cultivation

Grouped as a fern or moss, listed under the genus Woodwardia 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 (2,360 mm of 3,156 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 18.9 °C against a yearly mean of 15.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Rain

3,156 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,360 mm of it April to September. Wettest month September at 471 mm, driest month December at 78 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,870 mm to 4,367 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,216 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,156 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: 17 to 35 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 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 37).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -3.3 °C, the absolute minimum -8.9 °C, 788 frost nights in 44 years, 17.9 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 24.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 3.7 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -1.8 °C to 9.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 23.4 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -3.3 °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: 63 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 +752 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 Woodwardia 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

Habitat climate of Woodwardia unigemmata through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 3.7 °C; 3,156 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.-10°0°10°20°30°frost24.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-8.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 17–35RH 63–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 148 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 °C11 / 6–1512 / 7–1615 / 10–1918 / 14–2220 / 16–2422 / 18–2623 / 19–2823 / 19–2822 / 17–2619 / 15–2216 / 11–2012 / 7–16
Night °C4 / -2–95 / 0–107 / 3–1211 / 6–1514 / 8–1816 / 11–2017 / 12–2316 / 12–2315 / 10–2112 / 8–179 / 4–145 / 0–10
Rain mm85 / 29–133159 / 39–192178 / 66–222212 / 123–291344 / 181–513447 / 262–686429 / 265–719457 / 212–753471 / 150–601195 / 99–423101 / 44–23778 / 26–136
DLI17 / 13–2320 / 14–2525 / 18–3129 / 24–3330 / 27–3431 / 27–3435 / 29–3732 / 29–3428 / 24–3024 / 18–2820 / 15–2417 / 13–21
RH %64 / 57–7265 / 59–7265 / 60–7065 / 61–6966 / 62–7067 / 64–6966 / 63–7068 / 64–7068 / 64–7167 / 61–7265 / 59–7263 / 57–72
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 148 grid cells holding the 473 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 1315:6024 (24.225, 121.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -8.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -3.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 24.1 °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 148 distinct grid cells holding 473 of the 473 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1315:6024 (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 24.00_121.250, lapse-corrected +752 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2075 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 North-Central, China Southeast, Tibet, Japan, Taiwan, Assam, East Himalaya, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Myanmar, Vietnam, Jawa, Philippines, New Guinea · 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 marker24.169, 121.232 · in the densest population, 482 records (64% of those in range)
Kew's description“rhizomatous geophyte” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 750 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 473 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 204 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 5 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 277 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 750 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Woodwardia unigemmata, photograph 1did not loadWoodwardia unigemmata, photograph 2did not loadWoodwardia unigemmata, photograph 3did not loadWoodwardia unigemmata, photograph 4did not loadWoodwardia unigemmata, photograph 5did not loadWoodwardia unigemmata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) 如此甚好, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Jaw-Jian La, 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.

Viburnum propinquum Viburnum propinquum Chinese Evergreen Viburnum Photo: CC BY, 何小花Trochodendron aralioides Trochodendron aralioides Cartwheel Tree Photo: CC0, author not statedPittosporum daphniphylloides Pittosporum daphniphylloides Pittosporaceae Photo: CC BY, Kiwi ShenCynanchum boudieri Cynanchum boudieri Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, 謝麗霦 Thelypteris beddomei Aspleniaceae Myrsine stolonifera Myrsine stolonifera Primulaceae Photo: CC BY, 曾昱承 Yu-Cheng Zeng

Other Woodwardia 7 in the reference

Woodwardia areolata Woodwardia areolata Aspleniaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, ChoessWoodwardia fimbriata Woodwardia fimbriata Giant chain fern Photo: CC0, author not statedWoodwardia japonica Woodwardia japonica Asian chain fern Photo: CC0, author not statedWoodwardia orientalis Woodwardia orientalis Oriental chain fern Photo: CC BY-SA, harum.kohWoodwardia prolifera Woodwardia prolifera Blechnaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheng-Te HsuWoodwardia radicans Woodwardia radicans Chain fern Photo: CC BY, Rui RibeiroWoodwardia virginica Woodwardia virginica Aspleniaceae Photo: Public domain, Robert H. Mohlenbrock.

Names & registers

Also known as Blechnum japonicum; Woodwardia himalaica; Woodwardia latiloba; Woodwardia maxima; Woodwardia radicans subsp. unigemmata and 2 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Blechnaceae
Described by
(Makino) Nakai
Native to
China South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast +13
Wild records
750 in range · 204 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 answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 5 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (5 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 24.00_121.250, lapse-corrected +752 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 38 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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