English: Soft tree fern; Man fern.
Synonym:
Balantium antarcticum.
Clades:
Dicksoniaceae;
Cyatheales.
Region: eastern Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania;
Dicksonia antarctica is the most abundant tree fern in South Eastern Australia.
Habitat: tropical and subtropical; understorey; damp, sheltered woodland slopes, moist gullies; occasionally at high altitudes in cloud forests; tolerant of fire.
Use: ornamental, garden planting, landscaping; pith of the plant, cooked, roasted or raw, as food, starchl; as trunks for fences; for the cultivation of epiphytes.
BotanyFern; palm-like tree; evergreen; 5 m, up to 15 m tall; crown 2 to 6 m diameter; slow growing, 1 to 3 to 10 cm a year; dies when the crown is damaged; re-shoots readily after re-location.
Root: dense masses.
Stem: erect rhizome forming a trunk; narrow; very hairy at the base of the stipe and on the crown; variable curved, multi-headed ones; consists of decaying remains of earlier growth, roots growing through it; usually solitary, without runners, but may produce offsets; the fibrous trunks are hosts for a range of epiphytics, ferns and mosses.
Leaves: large; dark green; roughly-textured; in flushes; fertile and sterile fronds often in alternating layers; covered in dense brown hairs.
Reproduction: at the age of 20 years; primarily from spores; also grown from plantlets or cutting.