Davallia repens(L.f.) Kuhn

haresfoot fern

WFO wfo-0001124812 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 5 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 5 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.

Davallia repens, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. a Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-08-25 / obs. 91943623
Davallia repens, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. b Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 31619219
Davallia repens, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. c Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 91943665
Davallia repens, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. d Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 31619214
Davallia repens, photographed by naturewatchwidow
fig. e naturewatchwidow, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 54217104
Davallia repens, photographed by Pieter Pelser
fig. f Pieter Pelser, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 24452358
Davallia repens, photographed by Greg III Espera
fig. g Greg III Espera, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 20347573
Davallia repens, photographed by naturewatchwidow
fig. h naturewatchwidow, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 54217106

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 42 botanical countries

Regions where Davallia repens is native: Cameroon, Comoros, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles, Kerguelen, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Japan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Assam, Borneo, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, Queensland, Caroline Is., Fiji, Samoa, Society Is., Vanuatu CameroonDR CongoEquatorial GuineaGabonGulf of Guinea Is.MadagascarKerguelenChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanJapanTaiwanAssamBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNew GuineaPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamQueenslandFiji ComorosMauritiusRéunionSeychellesNansei-shotoAndaman Is.Caroline Is.SamoaSociety Is.Vanuatu
Native distribution of Davallia repens, 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
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
New Guinea NWG
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
Cameroon CMN AFRICA
Comoros COM
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Gabon GAB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Madagascar MDG
Mauritius MAU
Réunion REU
Seychelles SEY
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Japan JAP
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Fiji FIJ
Samoa SAM
Society Is. SCI
Vanuatu VAN
Kerguelen KEG ANTARCTICA
Queensland QLD AUSTRALASIA

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 135 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 5.4 °C 14.9 °C 20.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 20.9 °C 27.3 °C 29.9 °C
Annual rainfall 1,867 mm 2,778 mm 4,301 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 61 mm 199 mm 730 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 135 research-grade observations of Davallia repens 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 61 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.

  • Adiantum repens L.f.
  • Aspidium stipitatum Mett.
  • Davallia alpina Blume
  • Davallia anderssonii Mett.
  • Davallia belangeri Bory
  • Davallia bipinnatifida (T.Moore) Baker
  • Davallia bipinnatifida Blume
  • Davallia botrychioides (Brack.) Baker
  • Davallia cordifolia Roxb.
  • Davallia longula Kunze
  • Davallia pedata Sm.
  • Davallia pellucida Desv.
  • Davallia pinnatifida Baker
  • Davallia rigida Sol.
  • Davallia subimbricata Blume
  • Davallia vestita Blume
  • Dryopteris stipitata (Mett.) Kuntze
  • Humata alpina (Blume) T.Moore
  • Humata anderssonii (Mett.) C.Chr.
  • Humata bipinnatifida T.Moore
  • Humata botrychioides Brack.
  • Humata brooksii Copel.
  • Humata crassifrons Alderw.
  • Humata cromwelliana Rosenst.

and 37 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. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol DARE5. public domain. 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.