Gleichenella pectinata(Willd.) Ching

comb forkedfern

WFO wfo-0001113964 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Gleichenella pectinata, photographed by Sue Carnahan
fig. a Sue Carnahan, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-01-18 / obs. 178217123
Gleichenella pectinata, photographed by Guillaume Delaitre
fig. b Guillaume Delaitre, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 161260386
Gleichenella pectinata, photographed by John Abrams
fig. c John Abrams, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 129953641
Gleichenella pectinata, photographed by Arthur de Jesús Chavarría Pérez
fig. d Arthur de Jesús Chavarría Pérez, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 105034089
Gleichenella pectinata, photographed by lazarus
fig. e lazarus, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 75378300
Gleichenella pectinata, photographed by Daniel van der Post
fig. f Daniel van der Post, CC0 1.0 / obs. 9037234
Gleichenella pectinata, photographed by Julien Renoult
fig. g Julien Renoult, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 10823816
Gleichenella pectinata, photographed by Eduardo Chacón Madrigal
fig. h Eduardo Chacón Madrigal, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 91730955

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 35 botanical countries

Regions where Gleichenella pectinata is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Central American Pacific Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Windward Is. Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralCentral American Pacific Is.ColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoUruguayVenezuela Leeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Gleichenella pectinata, 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
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Central American Pacific Is. CPI
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
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Uruguay URU
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 622 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 11.3 °C 18.4 °C 23.1 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 22.8 °C 27.5 °C 31.4 °C
Annual rainfall 1,499 mm 2,494 mm 4,977 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 105 mm 289 mm 678 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 622 research-grade observations of Gleichenella pectinata 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 27 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.

  • Acropterygium pectinatum (Willd.) Nakai
  • Acropterygium pectinatum var. sublineare (Christ) Nakai
  • Dicranopteris linearis var. lherminieri (Fée) Nakai
  • Dicranopteris nitida (C.Presl) Nakai
  • Dicranopteris pectinata (Willd.) Underw.
  • Gleichenia brasiliana Spreng.
  • Gleichenia glaucescens Kunth
  • Gleichenia hermannii Hook. & Grev.
  • Gleichenia hookeri J.Sm.
  • Gleichenia linearis var. depauperata Christ
  • Gleichenia nitida C.Presl
  • Gleichenia pectinata (Willd.) C.Presl
  • Gleichenia pectinata var. sublinearis Christ
  • Mertensia brasiliana Desv.
  • Mertensia canescens Kaulf.
  • Mertensia dichotoma var. lherminieri Fée
  • Mertensia elata Desv.
  • Mertensia emarginata Raddi
  • Mertensia glaucescens Willd.
  • Mertensia glaucescens var. cubense Fée
  • Mertensia glaucescens var. cubensis Fée
  • Mertensia glaucescens var. mexicana Fée
  • Mertensia glaucescens var. mexicanum Fée
  • Mertensia hermanii Hook. & Grev.

and 3 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.