Sceptridium biternatum(Savigny) Lyon

sparselobe grapefern

WFO wfo-0001240527 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Sceptridium biternatum, photographed by Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）
fig. a Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-04 / obs. 186533777
Sceptridium biternatum, photographed by Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）
fig. b Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186475791
Sceptridium biternatum, photographed by John Michael
fig. c John Michael, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 185365588
Sceptridium biternatum, photographed by Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）
fig. d Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182660652
Sceptridium biternatum, photographed by Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）
fig. e Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182415259
Sceptridium biternatum, photographed by Laura Clark
fig. f Laura Clark, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 181875501
Sceptridium biternatum, photographed by Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）
fig. g Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 179892128
Sceptridium biternatum, photographed by Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）
fig. h Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 179891378

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 23 botanical countries

Regions where Sceptridium biternatum is native: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia AlabamaArkansasConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIllinoisIndianaKentuckyLouisianaMarylandMississippiMissouriNorth CarolinaOhioOklahomaPennsylvaniaSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasVirginiaWest Virginia DelawareDistrict of Columbia
Native distribution of Sceptridium biternatum, 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
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arkansas ARK
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
North Carolina NCA
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Pennsylvania PEN
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA

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 11 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.

  • Botrychium biternatum Underw.
  • Botrychium dissectum var. tenuifolium Farw.
  • Botrychium fumariae Spreng.
  • Botrychium fumarianum Sm.
  • Botrychium fumarioides Willd.
  • Botrychium obliquum var. tenuifolium Gilbert
  • Botrychium tenuifolium Underw.
  • Botrychium ternatum f. tenuifolium Clute
  • Osmunda biternata Savigny
  • Sceptridium tenuifolium (Underw.) Lyon
  • Sceptridium ternatum var. tenuifolium Clute

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 BOBI. 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.