Polystichum aculeatum(L.) Roth

hard shield-fern

WFO wfo-0001239724 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Polystichum aculeatum, photographed by Zeke Marshall
fig. a Zeke Marshall, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-13 / obs. 205809986
Polystichum aculeatum, photographed by CorentinD
fig. b CorentinD, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202896185
Polystichum aculeatum, photographed by Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky)
fig. c Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky), CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203457161
Polystichum aculeatum, photographed by Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky)
fig. d Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky), CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203291423
Polystichum aculeatum, photographed by Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky)
fig. e Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky), CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203451419
Polystichum aculeatum, photographed by Tobias Schönberg
fig. f Tobias Schönberg, CC0 1.0 / obs. 200356607
Polystichum aculeatum, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. g Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197272684
Polystichum aculeatum, photographed by Elliot Greiner
fig. h Elliot Greiner, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 196382809

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 42 botanical countries

Regions where Polystichum aculeatum is native: Algeria, Canary Is., Madeira, Morocco, Altay, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Xinjiang, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, Sardegna, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine AlgeriaMoroccoAltayIranIraqLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeXinjiangWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKrymNetherlandsNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraine Canary Is.MadeiraSardegna
Native distribution of Polystichum aculeatum, 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
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Xinjiang CHX
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Canary Is. CNY
Madeira MDR
Morocco MOR
West Himalaya WHM ASIA-TROPICAL

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 1,977 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -9.9 °C -4.9 °C 1.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 17.5 °C 21.9 °C 26.4 °C
Annual rainfall 689 mm 1,209 mm 2,083 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 105 mm 217 mm 399 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 1,977 research-grade observations of Polystichum aculeatum 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 73 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.

  • Aetopteron aculeatum (L.) House
  • Aspidium aculeatum (L.) Sw.
  • Aspidium aculeatum f. plukenetii (Loisel.) Döll
  • Aspidium aculeatum f. rotundatum Döll
  • Aspidium aculeatum f. simplicius Lindm.
  • Aspidium aculeatum f. umbraticum (Kuntze) Döll
  • Aspidium aculeatum subsp. lobatum (Huds.) Celak.
  • Aspidium aculeatum subsp. lobatum (Huds.) Milde
  • Aspidium aculeatum subsp. lobatum (Huds.) Niessl
  • Aspidium aculeatum var. angulare A.Braun ex Döll
  • Aspidium aculeatum var. aristatum Christ
  • Aspidium aculeatum var. cambricum Gray
  • Aspidium aculeatum var. intermedium Bellynck
  • Aspidium aculeatum var. lobatum (Huds.) Warnst.
  • Aspidium aculeatum var. lobatum (Huds.) Hampe
  • Aspidium aculeatum var. longilobum Milde
  • Aspidium aculeatum var. muscosum Gray
  • Aspidium aculeatum var. plukenetii (Loisel.) Bellynck
  • Aspidium aculeatum var. plukenetii (Loisel.) Rouy
  • Aspidium aculeatum var. pseudolonchitis Bellynck
  • Aspidium aculeatum var. vulgare Döll
  • Aspidium angulare subsp. aculeatum (L.) C.Hartm.
  • Aspidium bosniacum Formánek
  • Aspidium hastulatum subsp. lobatum (Huds.) Simonk.

and 49 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.