Sphaeropteris lepifera(Hook.) R.M.Tryon

WFO wfo-0001126784 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Sphaeropteris lepifera, photographed by 四角銅鑼
fig. a 四角銅鑼, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-02 / obs. 194183168
Sphaeropteris lepifera, photographed by 謝麗霦
fig. b 謝麗霦, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 179235406
Sphaeropteris lepifera, photographed by chiuluan
fig. c chiuluan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178017502
Sphaeropteris lepifera, photographed by chiuluan
fig. d chiuluan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 172170264
Sphaeropteris lepifera, photographed by chiuluan
fig. e chiuluan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 115900537
Sphaeropteris lepifera, photographed by 葉子
fig. f 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 111339436
Sphaeropteris lepifera, photographed by Cheng-Tao Lin
fig. g Cheng-Tao Lin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 55746443
Sphaeropteris lepifera, photographed by Tatsutomo Chin
fig. h Tatsutomo Chin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 44415638

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 7 botanical countries

Regions where Sphaeropteris lepifera is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, New Guinea, Philippines China South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanNew GuineaPhilippines Nansei-shoto
Native distribution of Sphaeropteris lepifera, 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
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
New Guinea NWG ASIA-TROPICAL
Philippines PHI

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 8 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.

  • Alsophila calocoma Christ
  • Alsophila lepifera J.Sm.
  • Alsophila pustulosa Christ
  • Cyathea calocoma Copel.
  • Cyathea lepifera Copel.
  • Cyathea pteridioides Copel.
  • Cyathea pustulosa Copel.
  • Cyathea umbrosa Copel.

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.