Dryopteris expansa(C.Presl) Fraser-Jenk. & Jermy

spreading woodfern

WFO wfo-0001107301 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Dryopteris expansa, photographed by Hannah Hickli
fig. a Hannah Hickli, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-06 / obs. 204445015

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
02210094
Filed as
Dryopteris expansa (C.Presl) Fraser-Jenk. & Jermy
Det. by
D. E. Atha 2013-01-01
Collected
D. E. Atha 2013-06-17
Origin
US
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 76 botanical countries

Regions where Dryopteris expansa is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Sakhalin, Taiwan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, North European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, Aleutian Is., British Columbia, California, Colorado, Greenland, Idaho, Labrador, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Oregon, Québec, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChitaInner MongoliaIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKhabarovskKrasnoyarskMagadanManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeSakhalinTaiwanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIcelandItalyNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoGreenlandIdahoLabradorMichiganMinnesotaMontanaNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesOntarioOregonQuébecWashingtonWisconsinWyomingYukon Korea
Native distribution of Dryopteris expansa, 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
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Iceland ICE
Italy ITA
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
Taiwan TAI
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Aleutian Is. ALU
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Greenland GNL
Idaho IDA
Labrador LAB
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Québec QUE
Washington WAS
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain, Aleutian Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are listed rather than guessed at.

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 1,978 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -17.9 °C -1.3 °C 4.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 15.3 °C 21.9 °C 25.4 °C
Annual rainfall 616 mm 1,849 mm 3,711 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 77 mm 195 mm 430 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,978 research-grade observations of Dryopteris expansa 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 16 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.

  • Dryopteris assimilis S.Walker
  • Dryopteris austriaca subsp. assimilis (Walker) O.Bolòs & Vigo
  • Dryopteris austriaca var. willeana Lid
  • Dryopteris carthusiana subsp. assimilis (Walker) O.Bolòs, Vigo, Masalles & Ninot
  • Dryopteris dilatata var. willeana (Lid) Hyl.
  • Dryopteris expansa subsp. assimilis (S.Walker) Tzvelev
  • Dryopteris extremiorientalis V.N.Vassil.
  • Dryopteris manshurica Ching
  • Dryopteris minimisora Nakai
  • Dryopteris morrisonensis Hayata
  • Dryopteris siranensis Nakai
  • Dryopteris spinulosa subsp. assimilis (S.Walker) Schidlay
  • Dryopteris spinulosa var. morrisonensis Hayata
  • Lastrea dilatata var. alpina T.Moore
  • Lastrea expansa C.Presl
  • Nephrodium expansum C.Presl

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.