Lindsaea ensifoliaSw.

graceful necklace fern

WFO wfo-0001107701 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Lindsaea ensifolia, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. a Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-04-17 / obs. 188697715
Lindsaea ensifolia, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. b Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 180132420
Lindsaea ensifolia, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. c Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 173834201
Lindsaea ensifolia, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. d Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 173802228
Lindsaea ensifolia, photographed by Eric Knight
fig. e Eric Knight, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 55450381
Lindsaea ensifolia, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. f Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 187650900
Lindsaea ensifolia, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. g Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182527242
Lindsaea ensifolia, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. h Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 170540836

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 44 botanical countries

Regions where Lindsaea ensifolia is native: Cape Provinces, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Réunion, Seychelles, Tanzania, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Solomon Is., Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Caroline Is., Vanuatu Cape ProvincesGabonGhanaGuineaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMozambiqueNigeriaTanzaniaChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanAssamBangladeshBismarck ArchipelagoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPhilippinesSolomon Is.Sri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamNorthern TerritoryQueenslandWestern Australia MauritiusRéunionSeychellesNansei-shotoAndaman Is.Nicobar Is.Caroline Is.Vanuatu
Native distribution of Lindsaea ensifolia, 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
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Bismarck Archipelago BIS
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Solomon Is. SOL
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
Cape Provinces CPP AFRICA
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Réunion REU
Seychelles SEY
Tanzania TAN
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
Northern Territory NTA AUSTRALASIA
Queensland QLD
Western Australia WAU
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Vanuatu VAN

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 373 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 9.6 °C 13.7 °C 24.0 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 24.8 °C 28.2 °C 30.8 °C
Annual rainfall 996 mm 1,834 mm 3,691 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 59 mm 156 mm 622 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 373 research-grade observations of Lindsaea ensifolia 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.

  • Adiantum ensifolium (Sw.) Poir.
  • Adiantum lancea Blanco
  • Adiantum lanceolatum (Labill.) Poir.
  • Lindsaea angustata Wall.
  • Lindsaea ensifolia var. gigantea B.K.Nayar & Geev.
  • Lindsaea erecta Mirb.
  • Lindsaea griffithiana Hook.
  • Lindsaea lanceolata Labill.
  • Lindsaea longipinna Wall.
  • Lindsaea membranacea Kunze
  • Lindsaea mertensiana Kunze
  • Lindsaea oligoptera Kunze
  • Lindsaea pentaphylla Hook.
  • Lindsaea polita Wall.
  • Lindsaea pteroides Desv.
  • Lindsaea rutlandia R.D.Dixit & B.Ghosh
  • Lindsaea schizoloma Ettingsh.
  • Lindsaea sublobata Kunze
  • Lindsaea vittata Zoll.
  • Litobrochia polita J.Sm.
  • Pteris angulata C.Presl
  • Pteris angustata Wall.
  • Pteris polita Wall.
  • Schizolegnia ensifolia (Sw.) Alston

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.