Blechnum occidentaleL.

hammock fern

WFO wfo-0001109501 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Blechnum occidentale, photographed by Michael Bakker Paiva
fig. a Michael Bakker Paiva, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-12-07 / obs. 173270854
Blechnum occidentale, photographed by Alexis López Hernández
fig. b Alexis López Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 67684719
Blechnum occidentale, photographed by Alexis López Hernández
fig. c Alexis López Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 66823580
Blechnum occidentale, photographed by Andrés Ramírez-Barrera
fig. d Andrés Ramírez-Barrera, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 59062408
Blechnum occidentale, photographed by Alexis López Hernández
fig. e Alexis López Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 67380652
Blechnum occidentale, photographed by Alexis López Hernández
fig. f Alexis López Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 67380806
Blechnum occidentale, photographed by Diana Fuentes
fig. g Diana Fuentes, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 19959888
Blechnum occidentale, photographed by Viacheslav Shalisko
fig. h Viacheslav Shalisko, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 17105705

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 38 botanical countries

Regions where Blechnum occidentale is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela GalápagosLeeward Is.Venezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Blechnum occidentale, 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
Argentina Northwest AGW
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
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
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
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 533 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 7.7 °C 18.3 °C 22.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 16.9 °C 26.8 °C 30.5 °C
Annual rainfall 1,224 mm 2,223 mm 3,292 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 61 mm 267 mm 508 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 533 research-grade observations of Blechnum occidentale 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 42 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.

  • Blechnum acuminatum Fée
  • Blechnum campylotis (Kunze) J.Sm.
  • Blechnum cartilagineum Schkuhr
  • Blechnum cillatum M.Martens & Galeotti
  • Blechnum cognatum C.Presl
  • Blechnum cunninghamii T.Moore
  • Blechnum drepanophyllum Trevis.
  • Blechnum extensum Fée
  • Blechnum falcatum Link
  • Blechnum flaccisquama A.Rojas
  • Blechnum galeottii T.Moore
  • Blechnum glandulosum Wall.
  • Blechnum haenkeanum Trevis.
  • Blechnum helveolum Fée
  • Blechnum humile Salisb.
  • Blechnum lomariaceum Sodiro
  • Blechnum lomarioides Sodiro
  • Blechnum meridionale var. pubirhachis Rosenst.
  • Blechnum mucronatum Fée
  • Blechnum occidentale f. bifidum Hahne
  • Blechnum occidentale f. pubirhachis (Rosenthal) Lellinger
  • Blechnum occidentale var. campylotis (Kunze) Farw.
  • Blechnum occidentale var. cunninghamii (T.Moore) Baker
  • Blechnum occidentale var. lacerata Rosenst.

and 18 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. 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.