Arthropteris orientalis(J.F.Gmel.) Posth.

WFO wfo-0001107764 Accepted WFO 2026-06 5 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–e · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Arthropteris orientalis, photographed by i_c_riddell
fig. a i_c_riddell, CC BY 4.0 / 2017-12-29 / obs. 12614282
Arthropteris orientalis, photographed by i_c_riddell
fig. b i_c_riddell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 12494648
Arthropteris orientalis, photographed by i_c_riddell
fig. c i_c_riddell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 12614284
Arthropteris orientalis, photographed by i_c_riddell
fig. d i_c_riddell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 12494649
Arthropteris orientalis, photographed by i_c_riddell
fig. e i_c_riddell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 12614285

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 28 botanical countries

Regions where Arthropteris orientalis is native: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Réunion, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Yemen AngolaBurundiCameroonCentral African RepublicDR CongoEthiopiaGabonGhanaGuineaGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMozambiqueNigeriaRwandaSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweYemen ComorosMauritiusRéunion
Native distribution of Arthropteris orientalis, 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
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Comoros COM
DR Congo ZAI
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Réunion REU
Rwanda RWA
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Yemen YEM ASIA-TEMPERATE

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 30 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.

  • Arthropteris albopunctata (Willd.) J.Sm.
  • Arthropteris orientalis (J.F.Gmel.) C.Chr.
  • Arthropteris pectinata Kuhn
  • Arthropteris subbiaurita J.Sm.
  • Arthropteris trichophlebia (Baker) C.Chr.
  • Aspidium albopunctatum Bory ex Willd.
  • Aspidium calcigenum Fée
  • Aspidium leucosticton Kunze
  • Aspidium pectinatum (Forssk.) Christ
  • Aspidium thonningii Schumach.
  • Aspidium trichophlebium Kuhn & Decken
  • Aspidium wilsonii (Baker) Hieron.
  • Dryopteris albopunctata (Willd.) Kuntze
  • Dryopteris humblotii (Baker) C.Chr.
  • Dryopteris orientalis (Gmel.) C.Chr.
  • Dryopteris orientalis var. subbiaurita (Hook.) Bonap.
  • Dryopteris pectinata (Kuhn) Alderw.
  • Dryopteris subbiaurita Kuntze
  • Dryopteris trichophlebia (Baker) C.Chr.
  • Dryopteris wilsonii (Baker) C.Chr.
  • Lastrea albopunctata (Willd.) C.Presl
  • Nephrodium albopunctatum (Willd.) Desv.
  • Nephrodium humblotii Baker
  • Nephrodium pectinatum (Forssk.) Hieron.

and 6 more.

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.