 It is confined to the eastern side of the continents, extending north into the United States to Florida and the extreme southeast of Georgia, and south through the Caribbean (the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and Lesser Antilles), and northern and eastern South America to Paraguay.It is the only species of "Phlebodium" found in North America, the other species all confined to South America.Other common names include calaguala (Spanish language), laua`e haole (Hawaiian), samambaia (Portuguese), and hartassbräken (Swedish).