Nephrolepis Schott

Overview

Nephrolepis is a fern genus; WCVP places it in Polypodiaceae in the broad sense (some systems keep it as a family of its own, Nephrolepidaceae), and Kew gives its native range as the tropics and subtropics. Flora of China counts about 20 species across most tropical regions, five of them in China (one introduced); WCVP accepts more, including several hybrids, listed below. Flora of the Cayman Islands notes that horticultural forms of several species are grown for ornament; the Boston fern of plant shops is recorded by the ASPCA as N. exaltata ‘Bostoniensis’.

Mind the names: “sword fern” can mean this genus (the ASPCA’s sword fern is N. biserrata), but the cut-foliage “sword fern” in the Floral Design Institute flower library is Polystichum munitum of western North America, and florists’ “leatherleaf” is Rumohra. Floreboard’s flower knowledge base currently lists 肾蕨 (Nephrolepis) as an alias of its leatherleaf entry, so this page does not yet link to the flower guide.

Classification and characters

WCVP cites Schott’s Genera Filicum (1834) as the place of publication.

Flora of China describes terrestrial or epiphytic ferns with a short, erect rhizome producing long, wiry stolons and sometimes tubers that give rise to new plants. The stipes are tufted and the lamina once pinnate; the sessile pinnae are jointed to the rachis, lanceolate or falcate, usually asymmetric at the base and often eared on the upper side, with crenate margins. The sori are round and terminal on a veinlet, with round-reniform or crescent-shaped indusia. Flora of the Cayman Islands adds that the pinnae eventually fall from the rachis.

In N. cordifolia the stolons bear scaly tubers 1–1.5 cm across; the lamina is linear-lanceolate, 25–75 × 3–6 cm, with 40–120 pairs of pinnae. It grows in forests and along streams from near sea level to 1500 m in Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan and Zhejiang, and widely across Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas and the Pacific islands (Flora of China).

Distribution

WCVP records the genus as native to 155 TDWG botanical regions and introduced in 20 more.

Introduced

AlabamaAlgeriaArgentina NorthwestArkansasAzoresCaliforniaCanary Is.Cape ProvincesEswatiniFranceGeorgiaItalyMadeiraMoroccoNew Zealand SouthPakistanParaguayPortugalSpainSt.Helena

Accepted species

WCVP accepts 35 species; names with × are natural hybrids. The count changes with revisions; checked 2026-10-28.

Historic plates

Plates in date order; the printed names are kept as they appear, current names are on the species pages and the topic page.

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  Nephrolepis cordifolia

  Album of Indian Ferns · Plate 14 · 1887
  

Pet safety

The ASPCA lists the Boston fern (N. exaltata ‘Bostoniensis’) as non-toxic to dogs and cats, and N. biserrata as non-toxic to dogs, cats and horses.

Further reading

• Reference library

References

1. WCVP · World Checklist of Vascular Plants (via ChecklistBank dataset 2232) · accessed 2026-10-28
2. Kew (POWO data on the ColPlanta site) · Nephrolepis, with Flora of the Cayman Islands
3. Flora of China vol. 2–3 · Nephrolepis
4. Floral Design Institute flower library · Sword Fern
5. ASPCA Animal Poison Control · Boston Fern
6. ASPCA Animal Poison Control · Sword Fern (Nephrolepis biserrata)
7. Flora of China vol. 2–3 · Nephrolepis cordifolia