Pyrrosia serpens(G.Forst.) Ching

WFO wfo-0000150260 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Pyrrosia serpens, photographed by Jon Sullivan
fig. a Jon Sullivan, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-16 / obs. 189957643
Pyrrosia serpens, photographed by Colin Meurk
fig. b Colin Meurk, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 2197554
Pyrrosia serpens, photographed by Jon Sullivan
fig. c Jon Sullivan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 189957584
Pyrrosia serpens, photographed by Colin Meurk
fig. d Colin Meurk, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 2197555
Pyrrosia serpens, photographed by Peter de Lange
fig. e Peter de Lange, CC0 1.0 / obs. 11035982
Pyrrosia serpens, photographed by nick_goldwater
fig. f nick_goldwater, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 50099483
Pyrrosia serpens, photographed by Peter de Lange
fig. g Peter de Lange, CC0 1.0 / obs. 11035981
Pyrrosia serpens, photographed by Peter de Lange
fig. h Peter de Lange, CC0 1.0 / obs. 11035980

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 10 botanical countries

Regions where Pyrrosia serpens is native: Chatham Is., Kermadec Is., New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Norfolk Is., Fiji, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is. New Zealand NorthNew Zealand SouthFiji Chatham Is.Kermadec Is.Norfolk Is.Pitcairn Is.Society Is.TuamotuTubuai Is.
Native distribution of Pyrrosia serpens, 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
Chatham Is. CTM AUSTRALASIA
Kermadec Is. KER
New Zealand North NZN
New Zealand South NZS
Norfolk Is. NFK
Fiji FIJ PACIFIC
Pitcairn Is. PIT
Society Is. SCI
Tuamotu TUA
Tubuai Is. TUB

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.

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.

  • Craspedaria ovalis C.Presl
  • Craspedaria serpens (G.Forst.) C.Presl
  • Cyclophorus blepharolepis C.Chr.
  • Cyclophorus macrocarpus (Hook. & Arn.) Copel.
  • Cyclophorus serpens (Forst.) C.Chr.
  • Niphobolus bicolor Kaulf.
  • Niphobolus macrocarpus Hook. & Arn.
  • Niphobolus serpens Endl.
  • Polypodium bicolor (Kaulf.) Mett.
  • Polypodium serpens G.Forst.
  • Polypodium serpens var. cuneatum F.Muell.
  • Polypodium stellatum Vahl
  • Polypodium stoloniferum J.F.Gmel.
  • Pyrrosia bicolor (Kaulf.) Ching
  • Pyrrosia blepharolepis (C.Chr.) Ching
  • Pyrrosia macrocarpa (Willd.) Kaulf.
  • Pyrrosia macrocarpa (Willd.) K.H.Shing

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. 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.