Adiantum macrophyllumSw.

largeleaf maidenhair

WFO wfo-0001109475 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Adiantum macrophyllum, photographed by Nicolás Baresch Uribe
fig. a Nicolás Baresch Uribe, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-03-30 / obs. 185946638
Adiantum macrophyllum, photographed by Dennis White
fig. b Dennis White, CC0 1.0 / obs. 61407821
Adiantum macrophyllum, photographed by Ken-ichi Ueda
fig. c Ken-ichi Ueda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 25393205
Adiantum macrophyllum, photographed by Eric Knight
fig. d Eric Knight, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 11891017
Adiantum macrophyllum, photographed by Ryan McMinds
fig. e Ryan McMinds, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 6314515
Adiantum macrophyllum, photographed by Lena Struwe
fig. f Lena Struwe, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 13588003
Adiantum macrophyllum, photographed by Noah Yawn
fig. g Noah Yawn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198413147
Adiantum macrophyllum, photographed by Ileana Herrera
fig. h Ileana Herrera, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178524313

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 31 botanical countries

Regions where Adiantum macrophyllum is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Argentina Northeast, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Windward Is. Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NortheastBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SoutheastColombiaCosta RicaCubaEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela GalápagosLeeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Adiantum macrophyllum, 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
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil Southeast BZL
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Galápagos GAL
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 257 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 13.3 °C 18.2 °C 20.9 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 23.5 °C 26.7 °C 29.8 °C
Annual rainfall 986 mm 2,446 mm 4,645 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 57 mm 201 mm 750 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 257 research-grade observations of Adiantum macrophyllum that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 3 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 lancea Keyserl.
  • Adiantum macrophyllum f. albostriatum Pynaert
  • Adiantum macrophyllum var. glaucum T.Moore

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.