Cyclopeltis semicordata(Sw.) J.Sm.

lime fern

WFO wfo-0001109553 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 7 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 7 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.

Cyclopeltis semicordata, photographed by keesgroenendijk
fig. a keesgroenendijk, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-11-26 / obs. 170433408
Cyclopeltis semicordata, photographed by Círculo de Investigación en Taxonomía, Florística y Ecología Vegetal
fig. b Círculo de Investigación en Taxonomía, Florística y Ecología Vegetal, CC0 1.0 / obs. 163166611
Cyclopeltis semicordata, photographed by Lena Struwe
fig. c Lena Struwe, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 4231878
Cyclopeltis semicordata, photographed by Brian Oakes Haiti Hunter
fig. d Brian Oakes Haiti Hunter, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 115749741
Cyclopeltis semicordata, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. e Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 75783652
Cyclopeltis semicordata, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. f Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 179382002
Cyclopeltis semicordata, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. g Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 179380906
Cyclopeltis semicordata, photographed by Ana Ka'ahanui
fig. h Ana Ka'ahanui, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 139428508

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 26 botanical countries

Regions where Cyclopeltis semicordata is native: Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Windward Is. Mexico GulfMexico SoutheastBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela GalápagosLeeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Cyclopeltis semicordata, 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
Belize BLZ SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
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
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Gulf MXG NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Southeast MXT

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 255 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 19.0 °C 22.2 °C 23.9 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 27.8 °C 29.6 °C 31.9 °C
Annual rainfall 1,341 mm 2,354 mm 3,886 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 64 mm 180 mm 604 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 255 research-grade observations of Cyclopeltis semicordata 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 18 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.

  • Aspidium blechnoides Sm.
  • Aspidium caducum Kunth
  • Aspidium caducum (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Kunth
  • Aspidium gaudichaudii Trevis.
  • Aspidium hemicardion Trevis.
  • Aspidium semicordatum (Sw.) Sw.
  • Aspidium semicordatum var. americanum Hook.
  • Cyclopeltis semicordata f. crenata I.Losch
  • Dryopteris semicordata (Sw.) Kuntze
  • Hemicardion macrosorum Fée
  • Hemicardion nephrolepis Fée
  • Lastrea caduca (Willd.) C.Presl
  • Lastrea semicordata (Sw.) C.Presl
  • Nephrodium semicordatum (Sw.) C.Presl
  • Phanerophlebia semicordata (Sw.) Conz.
  • Polypodium caducum Willd.
  • Polypodium semicordatum Sw.
  • Polystichum semicordatum (Sw.) 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.