Dicksonia antarctica
Labill. Soft Tree-fernTrunk erect, 2–12 m tall, thick; stipe bases persistent and crumbly, but soon hidden by matted, adventitious roots, often extending into buttresses near ground. Fronds narrowly oblong, tapering towards base and tip, up to 4 m long. Stipe short and stout, dark brown, smooth; hairs (at base) 2–3 cm long, coarse and brittle, shiny, red-brown. Lamina 3-pinnate, dark green, comparatively narrow, pinnae gradually reducing in length from 30–40 cm near mid-lamina to 10 cm at base; primary and secondary pinnae oblong with acute to acuminate tips; rachises pale, fawn to straw-coloured, upper surface with numerous hairs, lower surface with fewer hairs. Pinnules attached by full breadth, decurrent, forming wing along rachis; veins free with lateral veinlets unbranched, midveins sparsely hairy underneath; margins of sterile pinnules deeply serrate with curved teeth, fertile pinnules more deeply incised with rounded lobes. Sori as for family, numerous and conspicuous, one per lobe.
Wim, GleP, VVP, VRiv, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, EGL, EGU, WPro, HSF, HNF, OtR, Strz, MonT, HFE, VAlp. Also SA (where probably extinct), Qld, NSW, Tas. (including Bass Strait islands). The commonest tree-fern in Victoria, occurring mostly in forested areas of high rainfall of the south and east, particularly in shaded gullies and near streams and waterfalls, ranging from near sea-level to the subalps.
Dicksonia antarctica is most easily distinguished from the Cyathea species by its smooth stipe bases covered in hairs rather than scales, the fibrous matted roots which soon cover much of the trunk and the marginal, 2-valved soral structure. Although trunks usually bear a single crown of fronds, some plants have been noted (e.g. in the Taggerty-Alexandra area) with 6 or more crowns per trunk.
Entwisle, T.J. (1994). Ferns and allied plants (Psilophyta, Lycopodiophyta, Polypodiophyta). In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 13–111. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
