Grypothrix triphylla(Sw.) S.E.Fawc. & A.R.Sm.

threeleaf maiden fern

WFO wfo-1000027251 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Grypothrix triphylla, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. a Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-05-03 / obs. 194299785
Grypothrix triphylla, photographed by Agnes Trekker
fig. b Agnes Trekker, CC0 1.0 / obs. 171518801
Grypothrix triphylla, photographed by Agnes Trekker
fig. c Agnes Trekker, CC0 1.0 / obs. 167873001
Grypothrix triphylla, photographed by 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi)
fig. d 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), CC BY 4.0 / obs. 160018054
Grypothrix triphylla, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. e Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 87411064
Grypothrix triphylla, photographed by 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi)
fig. f 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), CC BY 4.0 / obs. 32072382
Grypothrix triphylla, photographed by Samuel Lee
fig. g Samuel Lee, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 154135726
Grypothrix triphylla, photographed by 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi)
fig. h 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), CC BY 4.0 / obs. 144135915

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
04037215
Filed as
Pronephrium triphyllum (Sw.) Holttum
Det. by
not recorded on this sheet
Collected
not recorded
Origin
not recorded
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 28 botanical countries

Regions where Grypothrix triphylla is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Japan, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, Queensland, Caroline Is., Fiji China South-CentralChina SoutheastJapanTaiwanAssamBangladeshBorneoEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNew GuineaPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamQueenslandFiji KoreaNansei-shotoNicobar Is.Caroline Is.
Native distribution of Grypothrix triphylla, 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
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Borneo BOR
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Japan JAP
Korea KOR
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Fiji FIJ
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 406 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 10.4 °C 12.6 °C 20.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 27.2 °C 29.1 °C 31.0 °C
Annual rainfall 2,490 mm 3,574 mm 4,556 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 135 mm 619 mm 832 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 406 research-grade observations of Grypothrix triphylla 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 14 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.

  • Abacopteris triphylla (Sw.) Ching
  • Cyclosorus nakaikeanus (R.D.Dixit & Balkr.) Panigrahi
  • Cyclosorus triphyllus (Sw.) Tardieu
  • Dryopteris triphylla (Sw.) C.Chr.
  • Meniscium cumingii Fée
  • Meniscium triphyllum Sw.
  • Meniscium triphyllum f. cristatum K.Satô
  • Nephrodium triphyllum (Sw.) Diels
  • Phegopteris triphylla (Sw.) Mett.
  • Pronephrium nakaikeanum R.D.Dixit & Balkr.
  • Pronephrium triphyllum (Sw.) P.Chandra
  • Pronephrium triphyllum (Sw.) Holttum
  • Thelypteris nakaikeana (R.D.Dixit & Balkr.) Christenh.
  • Thelypteris triphylla (Sw.) K.Iwats.

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 THTR3. 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.