Asplenium serratumL.

wild birdnest fern

WFO wfo-0001109360 Accepted WFO 2026-06 5 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–e · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 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.

Asplenium serratum, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. a Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / 2019-03-11 / obs. 56231027
Asplenium serratum, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. b Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 56222570
Asplenium serratum, photographed by Kyle Van Houtan
fig. c Kyle Van Houtan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 43185
Asplenium serratum, photographed by fern Wildtruth
fig. d fern Wildtruth, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 180733638
Asplenium serratum, photographed by fern Wildtruth
fig. e fern Wildtruth, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 180733652

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 35 botanical countries

Regions where Asplenium serratum is native: Florida, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Argentina Northeast, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. FloridaMexico GulfMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NortheastBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela GalápagosLeeward Is.Venezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Asplenium serratum, 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 South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
French Guiana FRG
Galápagos GAL
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN
Florida FLA 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 179 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 13.5 °C 19.0 °C 23.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 26.4 °C 30.6 °C 32.5 °C
Annual rainfall 1,344 mm 2,146 mm 3,652 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 105 mm 194 mm 547 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 179 research-grade observations of Asplenium serratum 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 21 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 brasiliense T.Moore & Houlston
  • Asplenium crenulatum (Liebm.) Baker
  • Asplenium crenulatum C.Presl
  • Asplenium integrum Fée
  • Asplenium lanciforme Fée
  • Asplenium longifolium Schrad.
  • Asplenium nidus Raddi
  • Asplenium raddii Fée
  • Asplenium schomburgkianum Klotzsch
  • Asplenium serratum f. incisum A.A.Eaton
  • Asplenium serratum var. blanchetianum Baker
  • Asplenium serratum var. caudatum Rosenst.
  • Asplenium serratum var. crenulatum (C.Presl) T.Moore
  • Asplenium serratum var. crenulatum (C.Presl) Hieron.
  • Asplenium serratum var. lanciforme Christ
  • Asplenium serratum var. latius E.Fourn.
  • Asplenium serratum var. minor Christ
  • Asplenium subsessile Cav.
  • Asplenium weberbaueri Hieron.
  • Chamaefilix serrata (L.) Farw.
  • Chamaefilix serrata var. crenulata 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.