Phlebodium decumanum(Willd.) J.Sm.

creeping golden polypody

WFO wfo-0001109225 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Phlebodium decumanum, photographed by fern Wildtruth
fig. a fern Wildtruth, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-03 / obs. 186357907
Phlebodium decumanum, photographed by Nicolás Baresch Uribe
fig. b Nicolás Baresch Uribe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 123710613
Phlebodium decumanum, photographed by Nicolás Baresch Uribe
fig. c Nicolás Baresch Uribe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 120730508
Phlebodium decumanum, photographed by Vincent A. Vos
fig. d Vincent A. Vos, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 68866608
Phlebodium decumanum, photographed by Alfredo F. Fuentes Claros
fig. e Alfredo F. Fuentes Claros, CC0 1.0 / obs. 58835353
Phlebodium decumanum, photographed by Eva Li
fig. f Eva Li, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 10710891
Phlebodium decumanum, photographed by Diogo Luiz
fig. g Diogo Luiz, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 179049364
Phlebodium decumanum, photographed by Stephany Rodríguez
fig. h Stephany Rodríguez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 32131069

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 Phlebodium decumanum is native: Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Windward Is. Mexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaDominican RepublicEcuadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasJamaicaParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela Leeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Phlebodium decumanum, 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
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Gulf MXG NORTHERN AMERICA
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 114 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 17.2 °C 21.0 °C 23.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 26.0 °C 30.8 °C 32.3 °C
Annual rainfall 1,650 mm 2,291 mm 3,502 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 66 mm 220 mm 568 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 114 research-grade observations of Phlebodium decumanum 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 9 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.

  • Campyloneurum decumanum Fée
  • Chrysopteris decumana Fée
  • Chrysopteris dictyocallis Fée
  • Chrysopteris multiserialis Fée
  • Phlebodium dictyocallis J.Sm.
  • Phlebodium multiseriale T.Moore & Houlston
  • Pleopeltis decumana C.Presl
  • Polypodium decumanum Willd.
  • Polypodium dictyocallis Mett.

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.