Adiantum aethiopicumL.

WFO wfo-0001110776 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Adiantum aethiopicum, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. a Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-06-05 / obs. 203466359
Adiantum aethiopicum, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. b Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 200247130
Adiantum aethiopicum, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. c Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 198595095
Adiantum aethiopicum, photographed by ronavery
fig. d ronavery, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197728958
Adiantum aethiopicum, photographed by Em Lamond
fig. e Em Lamond, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 189991984
Adiantum aethiopicum, photographed by Em Lamond
fig. f Em Lamond, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 188461043
Adiantum aethiopicum, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. g Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 185713342
Adiantum aethiopicum, photographed by Dylan Wishart
fig. h Dylan Wishart, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 183074250

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 32 botanical countries

Regions where Adiantum aethiopicum is native: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Congo, DR Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gulf of Guinea Is., Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Socotra, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, New South Wales, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Norfolk Is., Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, New Caledonia AngolaBotswanaCameroonCape ProvincesCongoDR CongoEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaGulf of Guinea Is.KenyaLesothoMadagascarMalawiMozambiqueNigeriaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweNew South WalesNew Zealand NorthNew Zealand SouthQueenslandSouth AustraliaTasmaniaVictoriaWestern AustraliaNew Caledonia Norfolk Is.
Native distribution of Adiantum aethiopicum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Botswana BOT
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Kenya KEN
Lesotho LES
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Socotra SOC
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
New South Wales NSW AUSTRALASIA
New Zealand North NZN
New Zealand South NZS
Norfolk Is. NFK
Queensland QLD
South Australia SOA
Tasmania TAS
Victoria VIC
Western Australia WAU
New Caledonia NWC PACIFIC

Not drawn on the map: Socotra. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 6 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Adiantum aethiopicum f. assimile (Sw.) F.M.Bailey
  • Adiantum assimile Sw.
  • Adiantum aubertii Desv.
  • Adiantum cycloides Zenker
  • Adiantum subtrapezoideum Christ
  • Adiantum trigonum Labill.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.