Pteris ensiformis

A small, evergreen brake fern of shaded lowland forest edges and banks across tropical and subtropical Asia and the western Pacific, widely sold as the Victoria fern. It wants warm, humid, shaded conditions year-round and evenly moist soil, with no real rest period.

At home, aim for

Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry

Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry

Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry

Light ShadeDLI and PPFD in Plantistry

No rest periodGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Terrestrial fern of shaded forest floor, stream banks, road cuts and disturbed forest edges in warm, wet lowland and hill forest; habitat detail here is generalised from the genus because species-specific accounts are thin.

Recorded from sea level to about 1,200 m, mostly in the lowlands (median about 100 m).

South AsiaSouthern China and TaiwanSouthern JapanIndochinaMalesiaNew GuineaNortheastern AustraliaWestern Pacific islands

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates

✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it

✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light

✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it

✓ Substrate and airflow

✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY 3.0 licence, unmodified.