Pteris tripartitaSw.

giant brake

WFO wfo-0001107864 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Pteris tripartita, photographed by Alison Northup
fig. a Alison Northup, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-11-15 / obs. 169076670

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 66 botanical countries

Regions where Pteris tripartita is native: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, China Southeast, Hainan, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Christmas I., East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Solomon Is., Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, Queensland, Caroline Is., Cook Is., Fiji, Gilbert Is., Marianas, Marquesas, Marshall Is., Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Samoa, Santa Cruz Is., Society Is., Tonga, Tubuai Is., Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is. AngolaBeninCameroonCentral African RepublicDR CongoEquatorial GuineaEthiopiaGabonGhanaGuineaGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaLiberiaMadagascarNigeriaSierra LeoneTanzaniaUgandaChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanBismarck ArchipelagoBorneoEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNew GuineaPhilippinesSolomon Is.Sri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamQueenslandFijiNew Caledonia Chagos ArchipelagoComorosMauritiusSeychellesAndaman Is.Christmas I.Nicobar Is.Caroline Is.Cook Is.MarianasMarquesasMarshall Is.NauruNiueSamoaSociety Is.TongaTubuai Is.TuvaluVanuatuWallis-Futuna Is.
Native distribution of Pteris tripartita, 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
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Chagos Archipelago CGS
Comoros COM
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Mauritius MAU
Nigeria NGA
Seychelles SEY
Sierra Leone SIE
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Bismarck Archipelago BIS
Borneo BOR
Christmas I. XMS
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Solomon Is. SOL
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Cook Is. COO
Fiji FIJ
Gilbert Is. GIL
Marianas MRN
Marquesas MRQ
Marshall Is. MRS
Nauru NRU
New Caledonia NWC
Niue NUE
Samoa SAM
Santa Cruz Is. SCZ
Society Is. SCI
Tonga TON
Tubuai Is. TUB
Tuvalu TUV
Vanuatu VAN
Wallis-Futuna Is. WAL
China Southeast CHS ASIA-TEMPERATE
Hainan CHH
Taiwan TAI
Queensland QLD AUSTRALASIA

Not drawn on the map: Gilbert Is., Santa Cruz Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are 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 224 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 10.9 °C 16.1 °C 25.0 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 26.6 °C 30.8 °C 32.0 °C
Annual rainfall 1,326 mm 1,560 mm 2,959 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 79 mm 187 mm 494 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 224 research-grade observations of Pteris tripartita 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 28 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.

  • Asplenium lineare (Wall.) C.Presl
  • Campteria pseudolonchitis C.Presl
  • Litobrochia divaricata Brack.
  • Litobrochia intermedia (Blume) J.Sm.
  • Litobrochia marginata C.Presl
  • Litobrochia microdictyon Fée
  • Litobrochia milneana (Hook.) Carruth.
  • Litobrochia pseudolonchitis Fée
  • Litobrochia tripartita (Sw.) C.Presl
  • Pteris attenuata Sw.
  • Pteris connexa J.Sm.
  • Pteris feliciennae F.Muell.
  • Pteris guilleminei Ag.; Guill.
  • Pteris intermedia Blume
  • Pteris junghuhnii (Reinw.) Baker
  • Pteris linearis Wall.
  • Pteris longipes Blume
  • Pteris marginata Bory
  • Pteris microdictyon (Fée) Hook.
  • Pteris milneana (Hook.) Baker
  • Pteris pedatifida Roxb.
  • Pteris revolvens Ac.
  • Pteris semiovata Poir.
  • Pteris subpedata Wall.

and 4 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.