Phlegmariurus phlegmaria(L.) Holub

tassel fern

WFO wfo-0001125446 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Phlegmariurus phlegmaria, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. a Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-01-26 / obs. 177538761

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
04991963
Filed as
Phlegmariurus phlegmaria (L.) Holub
Det. by
T. A. Ranker 2021-02-01
Collected
G. M. Plunkett 2017-08-02
Origin
VU
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 43 botanical countries

Regions where Phlegmariurus phlegmaria is native: Cameroon, Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Réunion, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Japan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, Christmas I., East Himalaya, India, Laos, Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Solomon Is., Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, Queensland CameroonEquatorial GuineaGabonGuineaGulf of Guinea Is.LiberiaMadagascarMalawiSierra LeoneTanzaniaUgandaChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanJapanTaiwanAssamBangladeshBismarck ArchipelagoBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaLaosMalayaMalukuMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPhilippinesSolomon Is.Sri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamQueensland ComorosRéunionNansei-shotoAndaman Is.Christmas I.Nicobar Is.
Native distribution of Phlegmariurus phlegmaria, 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
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
Christmas I. XMS
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Laos LAO
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
Cameroon CMN AFRICA
Comoros COM
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Gabon GAB
Guinea GUI
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Réunion REU
Sierra Leone SIE
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Japan JAP
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
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 247 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 5.4 °C 11.0 °C 23.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 23.8 °C 28.7 °C 31.2 °C
Annual rainfall 2,118 mm 3,811 mm 4,962 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 119 mm 528 mm 800 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 247 research-grade observations of Phlegmariurus phlegmaria 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 17 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.

  • Huperzia phlegmaria (L.) Rothm.
  • Huperzia phlegmaria var. divaricatum Blume
  • Huperzia simonii (Nessel) Holub
  • Lepidotis phlegmaria (L.) P.Beauv.
  • Lycopodium filiforme Wall. ex Roxb.
  • Lycopodium phlegmaria L.
  • Lycopodium phlegmaria var. longibracteatum Domin
  • Lycopodium phlegmaria var. longifolium Spring
  • Lycopodium phlegmaria var. parvifolium Spring
  • Lycopodium transiens Alderw.
  • Phlegmariurus phlegmaria (L.) T.Sen & U.Sen
  • Phlegmariurus phlegmaria var. laxosporophyllus Gias & Pasha
  • Urostachys borneensis Herter
  • Urostachys leonis Herter
  • Urostachys phlegmaria (L.) Herter ex Nessel
  • Urostachys simonii Nessel
  • Urostachys transiens (Alderw.) Herter ex Nessel

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 HUPH2. 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.