Species
+

Asplenium australasicum (J.Sm.) Hook.

Bird's nest fern, Bird's nest fern (EN), Crow's-nest fern, Thagie Wiwik

Climate known 43 photographs Fern or moss
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Asplenium australasicum, the bird's nest fern or crow's nest fern, is an epiphytic Australasian species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae.

Text from Wikipedia, “Asplenium australasicum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Asplenium

Asplenium is a genus of about 700 species of ferns, often treated as the only genus in the family Aspleniaceae, though other authors consider Hymenasplenium separate, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences, a different chromosome count, and structural differences in the rhizomes. The type species for the genus is Asplenium marinum.

Text from Wikipedia, “Asplenium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Aspleniaceae
Described by
(J.Sm.) Hook.
Native to
Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Queensland +22
Wild records
1810 in range· 1375 open

At a glance

Warmest month
26°C
Jan, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1300mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Feb 175 mm (CHELSA)
Light
18–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a fern or moss by the genus Asplenium, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to November in the northern hemisphere (November to May at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 1300 mm a year, wettest February at 175 mm, driest September at 58 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 7.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Asplenium macrophyllum var. australasicum; Asplenium nidus var. australasicum (J.Sm.) Fosberg; Asplenium nidus var. bieriale Holttum; Asplenium nidus var. multilobum F.M.Bailey; Neottopteris australasica J.Sm. and 1 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a fern or moss by the genus Asplenium, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to November in the northern hemisphere (November to May at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (941 mm of 1300 mm) falls in November to May, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.7 °C against a yearly mean of 17.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to November.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1300 mm a year, wettest February at 175 mm, driest September at 58 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1300 mm a year at the habitat, 941 mm of it November to May. Wettest month February at 175 mm, driest September at 58 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 973 mm to 1833 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 7.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 7.9 °C, the absolute minimum 5.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.0 °C in July (across the envelope cells 3.4 °C to 13.5 °C), warmest day 26.1 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER); the archetype table's minimum for a fern or moss, 5 °C, is lower and does not raise it.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 16 °C in Jul to 26 °C in Jan; mean night from 8 °C in Jul to 19 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1300 mm of rain a year, most in Feb. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 949 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 5.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°34.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)5.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 18–41RH 56–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 949 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 24–2826 / 23–2724 / 22–2621 / 19–2519 / 16–2216 / 13–2016 / 13–2017 / 15–2120 / 18–2423 / 20–2524 / 21–2626 / 23–28
Night °C19 / 15–2219 / 15–2217 / 13–2115 / 10–1912 / 7–179 / 5–158 / 3–149 / 4–1411 / 7–1613 / 9–1815 / 12–1918 / 14–21
Rain mm143 / 89–239175 / 124–270145 / 90–251121 / 78–192103 / 69–17092 / 53–13162 / 42–9659 / 38–8058 / 39–7588 / 70–111117 / 94–151137 / 88–198
DLI40 / 39–4235 / 34–3731 / 30–3426 / 24–2920 / 18–2418 / 16–2220 / 17–2426 / 24–2934 / 31–3638 / 36–4040 / 39–4241 / 40–43
RH %63 / 60–6764 / 62–6864 / 61–6862 / 60–6662 / 59–6560 / 58–6358 / 56–6256 / 55–6156 / 54–6158 / 56–6261 / 58–6361 / 59–65

Each figure is the median across the 949 grid cells holding the 1763 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2437:6649 (-31.875, 152.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 949 distinct grid cells holding the 1763 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2437:6649 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -32.00_152.500, lapse-corrected -67 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 17 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeNorfolk Is., New South Wales, Queensland, New Zealand South, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Santa Cruz Is., Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Cook Is., Line Is., Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is.
Kew's description“epiphyte” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-28.716, 153.124 · in the densest population, 1245 records (69% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1810 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 1375 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 76 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 47 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1810 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Asplenium australasicumAsplenium australasicumAsplenium australasicumAsplenium australasicumAsplenium australasicumAsplenium australasicumAsplenium australasicumAsplenium australasicum

Photographs: (c) Lucas Christofides, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6); (c) ronavery, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Asplenium australasicum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Effects of five extraction methods on total content, composition, and stability of flavonoids in jujube
Xiumin Liu, Ya Liu, Chunhui Shan, Xinquan Yang (2022) · Food Chemistry X
Chemical components and emulsification properties of mucilage from Dioscorea opposita Thunb
Fanyi Ma, Yun Zhang, Yanna Yao, Yurong Wen (2017) · Food Chemistry
Constraints of space in plant development
Przemysław Prusinkiewicz, Pierre Barbier de Reuille (2010) · Journal of Experimental Botany
Growth of Dendranthema ×grandiflorum (Ramat.) Kitamura under Various Spectral Filters
Margaret J. McMahon, Jeffery W. Kelly, Dennis R. Decoteau, Roy E. Young (1991) · Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Effect of enzyme-assisted extraction on the physicochemical properties of mucilage from the fronds of Asplenium australasicum (J. Sm.) Hook
Chia-Fang Chiang, Lih‐Shiuh Lai (2018) · International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Valorization of citrus peel industrial wastes for facile extraction of extractives, pectin, and cellulose nanocrystals through ultrasonication: An in-depth investigation
Chandra Mohan Chandrasekar, Daniele Carullo, Francesca Saitta, Harini Krishnamachari (2024) · Carbohydrate Polymers
Potential Residual Contaminants in Edible Bird's Nest
Bee-Hui Yeo, Teck‐Kim Tang, Shew Fung Wong, Chin Ping Tan (2021) · Frontiers in Pharmacology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Asplenium 2 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 46 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.