Species
+

Pteris ensiformis Burm.

Slender Bracken, Slender Brake, Slender brake, Sword brake fern

Climate known 49 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

Pteris ensiformis, the slender brake, silver lace fern, sword brake fern, or slender brake fern, is a plant species of the genus Pteris in the family Pteridaceae. It is found in Asia and the Pacific.

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

About the genus · Pteris

Pteris (brake) is a genus of about 300 species of ferns in the subfamily Pteridoideae of the family Pteridaceae. They are native to tropical and subtropical regions, southward to New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, north to Japan and North America. 78 species are found in China. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Pteris”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Pteridaceae
Described by
Burm.
Native to
China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast +34
Wild records
1385 in range· 498 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Jul, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2204mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 305 mm (CHELSA)
Light
21–35DLI
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 Pteris, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 2204 mm a year, wettest June at 305 mm, driest December at 72 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 9.0 °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 Acrostichum trifoliatum Houtt.; Phorolobus chinensis Desv.; Pteris attenuata Blume; Pteris caudata Lour.; Pteris crenata Sw. and 11 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a fern or moss by the genus Pteris, 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, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern).

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 (1561 mm of 2204 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.6 °C against a yearly mean of 22.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

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 2204 mm a year, wettest June at 305 mm, driest December at 72 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2204 mm a year at the habitat, 1561 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 305 mm, driest December at 72 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1498 mm to 3742 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern 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: 21 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 35 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 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

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 9.0 °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 9.0 °C, the absolute minimum 4.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 13.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells 7.1 °C to 24.7 °C), warmest day 28.8 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 9.0 °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: 63 to 66% 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 19 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Jul; mean night from 13 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2204 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 755 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 4.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 37.5 °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°37.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)4.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 21–35RH 63–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 755 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 °C19 / 15–2820 / 16–2822 / 19–2925 / 22–2927 / 24–2928 / 24–3029 / 23–3129 / 23–3128 / 24–3026 / 23–2824 / 20–2820 / 16–28
Night °C13 / 7–2514 / 9–2516 / 11–2520 / 15–2522 / 18–2523 / 19–2624 / 18–2624 / 18–2623 / 18–2521 / 16–2418 / 12–2415 / 8–25
Rain mm79 / 24–325132 / 35–334162 / 53–303187 / 85–262263 / 114–371305 / 93–489253 / 71–493290 / 75–539263 / 63–484114 / 46–36584 / 35–32072 / 24–276
DLI22 / 15–3924 / 17–3729 / 21–3731 / 26–3731 / 27–3532 / 25–3535 / 26–3832 / 29–3630 / 28–3728 / 23–4024 / 18–4121 / 15–41
RH %63 / 59–7064 / 60–7065 / 61–6965 / 62–7065 / 62–6966 / 62–7065 / 61–7066 / 61–7065 / 61–6964 / 60–6963 / 58–6963 / 57–70

Each figure is the median across the 755 grid cells holding the 1360 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 1444:5715 (17.775, 105.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 4.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 9.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.5 °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 755 distinct grid cells holding the 1360 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1444:5715 (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 18.00_105.625, lapse-corrected -267 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 360 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.
NativeChina South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Japan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Queensland, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Caroline Is., Marianas· introduced: Arkansas, Honduras, Cuba, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Windward Is., French Guiana, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast
Kew's description“rhizomatous geophyte” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker24.447, 120.904 · in the densest population, 683 records (49% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1385 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 498 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6 km away. 268 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 25 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 of the 1385 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Pteris ensiformisPteris ensiformisPteris ensiformisPteris ensiformisPteris ensiformisPteris ensiformisPteris ensiformisPteris ensiformis

Photographs: (c) Leon Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Kiwi Shen, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Suzanne Muzic, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Cesar Ormazabal, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) 謝麗霦, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist 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 Pteris ensiformis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Metabolic adaptations to arsenic-induced oxidative stress in Pteris vittata L and Pteris ensiformis L
Nandita Singh, Q. Lena, Mrittunjai Srivastava, Bala Rathinasabapathi (2005) · Plant Science
Antioxidant responses of hyper-accumulator and sensitive fern species to arsenic
Mrittunjai Srivastava, Q. Lena, Nandita Singh, Shraddha Singh (2005) · Journal of Experimental Botany
Arsenic Induced Phytate Exudation, and Promoted FeAsO 4 Dissolution and Plant Growth in As-Hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata
Xue Liu, Jing–Wei Fu, Dong‐Xing Guan, Yue Cao (2016) · Environmental Science & Technology
Identification of phenolic antioxidants from Sword Brake fern (Pteris ensiformis Burm.)
Yang‐Yi Chen, Fang‐Rong Chang, Yuh‐Charn Lin, Lu Wang (2007) · Food Chemistry
New Benzoyl Glucosides and Cytotoxic Pterosin Sesquiterpenes from Pteris ensiformis Burm.
Yung-Husan Chen, Fang‐Rong Chang, Mei‐Chin Lu, Pei‐Wen Hsieh (2008) · Molecules
The Accumulation and Subcellular Distribution of Arsenic and Antimony in Four Fern Plants
Renwei Feng, Xiliang Wang, Chaoyang Wei, Shuxin Tu (2013) · International Journal of Phytoremediation
Novel Phytase from Pteris vittata Resistant to Arsenate, High Temperature, and Soil Deactivation
Jason T. Lessl, Q. Lena, Bala Rathinasabapathi, Charles L. Guy (2013) · Environmental Science & Technology
Immunomodulatory mechanism of the aqueous extract of sword brake fern (Pteris ensiformis Burm.)
Ming‐Jiuan Wu, Ching‐Yi Weng, Lisu Wang, Tzi-Wei Lian (2005) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Plantlet regeneration in Asplenium nidus L. and Pteris ensiformis L. by homogenization of BA treated rhizomes
Helena Fernández, A. R. V. Bertrand, Ricardo Sánchez Tamés (1997) · Scientia Horticulturae

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 Pteris 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (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 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried 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 2026-09-19; 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 90 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.