Pteris creticaL.

Cretan brake

WFO wfo-0001107406 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Pteris cretica, photographed by Leon Perrie
fig. a Leon Perrie, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-02-13 / obs. 179207360
Pteris cretica, photographed by joergmlpts
fig. b joergmlpts, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 175345498
Pteris cretica, photographed by Peter de Lange
fig. c Peter de Lange, CC0 1.0 / obs. 172602346
Pteris cretica, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. d Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 173388534
Pteris cretica, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. e Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169204488
Pteris cretica, photographed by Mahomed Desai
fig. f Mahomed Desai, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 153304742
Pteris cretica, photographed by joergmlpts
fig. g joergmlpts, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 151704293
Pteris cretica, photographed by George Williams
fig. h George Williams, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 138641618

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 55 botanical countries

Regions where Pteris cretica is native: Algeria, Angola, Ascension, Burundi, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, DR Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Northern Provinces, Réunion, Rwanda, Socotra, St.Helena, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Japan, Korea, Lebanon-Syria, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Yemen, Assam, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Corse, France, Italy, Krym, Spain, Switzerland AlgeriaAngolaBurundiCape ProvincesDR CongoEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoMadagascarMalawiNorthern ProvincesRwandaTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastJapanLebanon-SyriaTaiwanTibetTranscaucasusTürkiyeYemenAssamCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaLaosMyanmarNepalPakistanPhilippinesSri LankaThailandVietnamWest HimalayaCorseFranceItalyKrymSpainSwitzerland AscensionCanary Is.RéunionSt.HelenaKoreaNansei-shoto
Native distribution of Pteris cretica, 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
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Angola ANG
Ascension ASC
Burundi BUR
Canary Is. CNY
Cape Provinces CPP
DR Congo ZAI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Northern Provinces TVL
Réunion REU
Rwanda RWA
Socotra SOC
St.Helena STH
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Laos LAO
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China North-Central CHN ASIA-TEMPERATE
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Japan JAP
Korea KOR
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Yemen YEM
Corse COR EUROPE
France FRA
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Spain SPA
Switzerland SWI

Not drawn on the map: Socotra. 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 1,935 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -1.4 °C 5.5 °C 12.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 17.3 °C 22.1 °C 28.7 °C
Annual rainfall 775 mm 1,332 mm 3,999 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 10 mm 235 mm 518 mm

It is found where winters bring light 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 1,935 research-grade observations of Pteris cretica 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 41 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.

  • Pteris confertinervia Ching
  • Pteris contracta Link
  • Pteris cretica f. bifida Nishioka ex Akasawa
  • Pteris cretica var. alternata Chiov.
  • Pteris cretica var. americana J.Agardh
  • Pteris cretica var. balansae Rakotondr.
  • Pteris cretica var. cartilagidens Christ
  • Pteris cretica var. cretica
  • Pteris cretica var. intermedia (Christ) C.Chr.
  • Pteris cretica var. laeta (Wall. ex Ettingsh.) C.Chr. & Tardieu
  • Pteris cretica var. laeta (Ettingsh.) C.Chr. & Tardieu
  • Pteris cretica var. latifolia J.Agardh
  • Pteris cretica var. nervosa (Thunb.) Ching & S.H.Wu
  • Pteris cretica var. plurilobata Bonap.
  • Pteris cretica var. prolifera R.Sim ex J.Dix
  • Pteris cretica var. rosthornii Diels
  • Pteris dangiana X.Y.Wang & P.S.Wang
  • Pteris emergens Link
  • Pteris heptaphyllos Poir.
  • Pteris intermedia Christ
  • Pteris laeta Wall. ex Ettingsh.
  • Pteris laeta Wall.
  • Pteris lomarioides Colenso
  • Pteris mysorensis Fée

and 17 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.