Species · genus Nephrolepis · Nephrolepidaceae

Giant Sword Fern

Nephrolepis biserrata (Sw.) Desv.

Also known as: Broad Sword Fern · Fishbone Fern

Growth habit

perennial or epiphyte

Native range

Andaman Is., Angola, Argentina Northeast, Assam, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Bolivia, Borneo, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Burkina, Cambodia, Cameroon, Caroline Is., Cayman Is., Central African Republic, Central American Pacific Is., China South-Central, China Southeast, Christmas I., Colombia, Comoros, Cook Is., Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, DR Congo, East Himalaya, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Florida, French Guiana, Gabon, Galápagos, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Guyana, Hainan, Honduras, India, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jawa, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Laos, Leeward Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Louisiana, Madagascar, Malaya, Marianas, Marquesas, Marshall Is., Mauritius, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Nicaragua, Nicobar Is., Nigeria, Niue, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Panamá, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn Is., Puerto Rico, Queensland, Réunion, Samoa, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Society Is., Solomon Is., South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sudan-South Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Vietnam, Western Australia, Windward Is., Zambia, Zimbabwe

Nephrolepis biserrata — reference photo — Daderot · Public domain

Cultivars of N. biserrata

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under N. biserrata yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

Meet the Macho Fern

Macho fern is a big, brawny fern that lives up to its name, sporting bright green fronds with bold, broad leaflets. It dwarfs relatives like Boston fern and Kimberly Queen fern, and its botanical name is Nephrolepis biserrata.

Source: Costa Farms

A Wide Natural Range

This fern is native across the tropics and subtropics, turning up as a perennial or epiphyte in wet tropical regions on nearly every continent, from the Caribbean and Central America to Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific islands. Beyond ornamental use, it has a long history as food, medicine, and even poison, and has served environmental and social purposes in the places it grows wild.

Source: Kew

Light, Water, and Feeding

Outdoors, macho fern prefers shade or part shade, ideally morning sun with afternoon shade, and shelter from strong drying winds. Indoors it tolerates low, medium, or bright light, though direct sun should be softened with a sheer curtain. Keep the potting mix moist but never soggy, watering as the top inch or so dries, which can mean daily watering in summer heat, and feed with a general-purpose fertilizer every six months at minimum outdoors, or in spring and summer indoors if you choose to feed at all.

Source: Costa Farms

Big, Bold Fronds

What sets macho fern apart is scale: its graceful fronds stretch 3 to 4 feet long, giving it far more presence than smaller fern relatives. It suits large urns or planters where those fronds have room to spread, and it dresses up shaded or partly shaded porches and patios outdoors.

Source: Costa Farms

Seasonal Moves and Pruning

In fall, macho fern can be brought indoors and set in a bright spot away from direct sun to carry it through as a houseplant. Pruning is light-touch: simply remove old, faded fronds, or indoors, fronds that have turned brown.

Source: Costa Farms

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 3-7d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 7 days

Humidity

High

Temperature

16–27 °C

Soil mix

Loose, humus-rich mix that holds moisture yet drains freely

Propagation

Division of the rootball or rooted runners

Fertilizing

Dilute balanced liquid feed monthly through spring and summer

Growth rate

Fast

Flowering

Never flowers — a fern, reproduces by spores

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Not yet documented

This is where toxicity lives — every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 3-7d) · ai:claude-fable-5

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Giant Sword Fern yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — and a clear photo of your plant are exactly what keep this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.