Gymnocarpium robertianum(Hoffm.) Newman

Scented oak fernlimestone fernscented oakfern

WFO wfo-0001109141 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Gymnocarpium robertianum, photographed by Eleftherios Katsillis
fig. a Eleftherios Katsillis, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-09-22 / obs. 159194925

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
04065130
Filed as
Gymnocarpium robertianum (Hoffm.) Newman
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 51 botanical countries

Regions where Gymnocarpium robertianum is native: Algeria, Altay, Buryatiya, Japan, Krasnoyarsk, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Qinghai, Transcaucasus, Xinjiang, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Illinois, Iowa, Labrador, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Ontario, Québec, Wisconsin AlgeriaAltayBuryatiyaJapanKrasnoyarskMongoliaNorth CaucasusQinghaiTranscaucasusXinjiangAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaIllinoisIowaLabradorManitobaMichiganMinnesotaNew BrunswickNewfoundlandOntarioQuébecWisconsin
Native distribution of Gymnocarpium robertianum, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Illinois ILL
Iowa IOW
Labrador LAB
Manitoba MAN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
New Brunswick NBR
Newfoundland NFL
Ontario ONT
Québec QUE
Wisconsin WIS
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Buryatiya BRY
Japan JAP
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Qinghai CHQ
Transcaucasus TCS
Xinjiang CHX
Algeria ALG AFRICA

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is 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 1,492 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -13.7 °C -7.5 °C -1.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 16.0 °C 21.2 °C 24.9 °C
Annual rainfall 609 mm 1,324 mm 2,164 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 92 mm 227 mm 411 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,492 research-grade observations of Gymnocarpium robertianum 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 38 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.

  • Aspidium calcareum (Sm.) Baumg.
  • Aspidium robertianum (Hoffm.) Luerss.
  • Carpogymnia dryopteris var. pumila (DC.) B.Boivin
  • Carpogymnia robertiana (Hoffm.) Á.Löve & D.Löve
  • Currania robertiana (Hoffm.) Wherry
  • Dryopteris disjuncta subsp. calcarea (Sm.) Rouy
  • Dryopteris obtusifolia (Schrank) O.Schwarz
  • Dryopteris robertiana (Hoffm.) C.Chr.
  • Gymnocarpium altaycum Chang Y.Yang
  • Gymnocarpium dryopteris var. pumilum (DC.) B.Boivin
  • Gymnocarpium obtusifolium (Schrank) O.Schwarz
  • Gymnocarpium robertianum (Hoffm.) Ching
  • Lastrea calcarea Bory
  • Lastrea dryopteris var. robertiana (Hoffm.) Lawalrée
  • Lastrea obtusifolia Janch.
  • Lastrea robertiana (Hoffm.) Newn.
  • Nephrodium robertianum (Hoffm.) Prantl
  • Phegopteris calcarea (Sm.) Fée
  • Phegopteris dryopteris subsp. calcarea (Sm.) Bonnier & Layens
  • Phegopteris dryopteris subsp. robertiana (Hoffm.) Hensl.
  • Phegopteris dryopteris var. robertiana (Hoffm.) Davenp.
  • Phegopteris robertiana (Hoffm.) A.Braun
  • Phegopteris robertiana (Hoffm.) Fée
  • Polypodium calcareum Sm.

and 14 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.