Elaphoglossum peltatum(Sw.) Urb.

peltate tonguefern

WFO wfo-0001113730 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Elaphoglossum peltatum, photographed by Attila Oláh
fig. a Attila Oláh, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-19 / obs. 190324847
Elaphoglossum peltatum, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. b Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 188981490
Elaphoglossum peltatum, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. c Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178715113
Elaphoglossum peltatum, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. d Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 177687015
Elaphoglossum peltatum, photographed by Serenella Linares
fig. e Serenella Linares, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 141192096
Elaphoglossum peltatum, photographed by Alan Rockefeller
fig. f Alan Rockefeller, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 48860957
Elaphoglossum peltatum, photographed by Alan Rockefeller
fig. g Alan Rockefeller, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 42573662
Elaphoglossum peltatum, photographed by Alan Rockefeller
fig. h Alan Rockefeller, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 42571353

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 28 botanical countries

Regions where Elaphoglossum peltatum is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Windward Is. Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SoutheastColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPeruPuerto RicoVenezuela Leeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Elaphoglossum peltatum, 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
Bolivia BOL SOUTHERN AMERICA
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil Southeast BZL
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Venezuela VEN
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 560 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 7.6 °C 13.7 °C 20.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 17.3 °C 24.8 °C 28.9 °C
Annual rainfall 1,688 mm 3,225 mm 5,097 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 39 mm 314 mm 590 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 560 research-grade observations of Elaphoglossum peltatum 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 22 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.

  • Acrostichum flabellatum Willd.
  • Acrostichum flabellatum var. bipartitum Sodiro
  • Acrostichum flabellatum var. sphenophyllum Kunze
  • Acrostichum peltatum var. flabellatum J.Bommer & Christ
  • Acrostichum peltatum var. potentillifolium Christ
  • Acrostichum sphenophyllum Kunze
  • Elaphoglossum flabellatum Christ
  • Olfersia flabellata C.Presl
  • Olfersia sphenophylla C.Presl
  • Olfersia tripartita C.Presl
  • Peltapteris flabellata (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) C.V.Morton
  • Peltapteris flabellata f. standleyi (Maxon) C.V.Morton
  • Peltapteris peltata f. flabellata (Willd.) L.D.Gómez
  • Peltapteris peltata f. potentillifolia (Christ) C.F.Reed
  • Peltapteris peltata f. standleyi (Maxon) L.D.Gómez
  • Peltapteris peltata f. standleyi (Maxon) C.V.Morton
  • Polybotrya flabellata Mett.
  • Rhipidopteris flabellata Fée
  • Rhipidopteris humboldtiana Schott
  • Rhipidopteris peltata var. flabellata Stehlé
  • Rhipidopteris sphenophylla Fée
  • Rhipidopteris standleyi Maxon

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.