Asplenium monanthesL.

singlesorus spleenwort

WFO wfo-0001108056 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Asplenium monanthes, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. a Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-01-13 / obs. 185495183

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.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
679312
Filed as
Asplenium monanthes L.
Det. by
A. C. Brade 1937-01-01
Collected
A. C. Brade 1937-03
Origin
BR
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 57 botanical countries

Regions where Asplenium monanthes is native: Azores, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Ethiopia, Free State, Gulf of Guinea Is., Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Madagascar, Madeira, Malawi, Northern Provinces, Réunion, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Tristan da Cunha, Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, North Carolina, South Carolina, Hawaii, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Bolivia, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Chile Central, Chile South, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela CameroonCape ProvincesEthiopiaFree StateGulf of Guinea Is.KenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoMadagascarMalawiNorthern ProvincesRwandaSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZimbabweAlabamaArizonaFloridaIllinoisIndianaMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestNorth CarolinaSouth CarolinaHawaiiArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBoliviaBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastChile CentralChile SouthColombiaCosta RicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorGuatemalaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPeruUruguayVenezuela AzoresCanary Is.MadeiraRéunionTristan da Cunha
Native distribution of Asplenium monanthes, 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
Azores AZO AFRICA
Cameroon CMN
Canary Is. CNY
Cape Provinces CPP
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Madagascar MDG
Madeira MDR
Malawi MLW
Northern Provinces TVL
Réunion REU
Rwanda RWA
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zimbabwe ZIM
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Bolivia BOL
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Chile Central CLC
Chile South CLS
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
Guatemala GUA
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arizona ARI
Florida FLA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
North Carolina NCA
South Carolina SCA
Tristan da Cunha TDC ANTARCTICA
Hawaii HAW PACIFIC

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 399 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -0.3 °C 4.4 °C 12.0 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 17.3 °C 21.5 °C 25.2 °C
Annual rainfall 713 mm 1,371 mm 2,901 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 30 mm 58 mm 228 mm

It is found where winters bring light frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 399 research-grade observations of Asplenium monanthes 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 23 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.

  • Asplenium adiantum-nigrum var. lamotteanum (Hérib.) Rouy
  • Asplenium arcuatum Liebm.
  • Asplenium blandulum Fée
  • Asplenium cultrifolium Bory
  • Asplenium curvatum Fée
  • Asplenium dentex Buch
  • Asplenium denudatum Mett.; Kuhn
  • Asplenium galeottii Fée
  • Asplenium herbwagneri W.C.Taylor & Mohlenbr.
  • Asplenium leptophyllum Fée
  • Asplenium macrocarpum Desv.
  • Asplenium menziesii Hook. & Grev.
  • Asplenium monanthemum Murray
  • Asplenium monanthemum var. leptophyllum (Fée) T.Moore
  • Asplenium monanthemum var. menziesii Sodiro
  • Asplenium monanthes var. monanthes
  • Asplenium monanthes var. triangularipinnta Bonap.
  • Asplenium monanthes var. yungense Rosenst.
  • Asplenium obtusissimum Fée
  • Asplenium repente Desv.
  • Asplenium vargasii Abbiatti
  • Asplenium wagneri Mett. ex Kuhn
  • Chamaefilix monanthes (L.) Farw.

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.