Saint Dale's Blog

I f I gave you a tree fern right now, would you know if I gave you the beautiful Cyathea cooperi or the addicting Dicksonia antarctica ?  Perhaps it might help if you knew how tree ferns were classified? A painting of a tree fern forest http://www.kentcrawford.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/treeferns_sk_2016_1000x634_tgf.jpg Viewed on 12/4/18 DNA data suggests that tree ferns are monophyletic (Hasebe, 1994), which means they all share a common ancestor and constitute a single “frond branch” on the “tree fern of life”. The tree fern order is known by botanists as Cyatheales . They branched away from other core lineages around 220 million years ago (Pryer et al. 2004) making these plants old enough to receive the pension. Phylogenetic Tree of Cyatheales. Image produced by Dale Perkins on 12/4/18 based on the article "A classification for extant ferns" by Smith, Pryer, schuettpelz, Korall, Schneider and Wolf which can be found in the reference list. In the ab...

M y first “hit” from C. cooperi came in a 300mm pot. Six months later I found myself ordering 20 specimens from a nursery in Mossman. That was my “gateway” fern, it  got me wondering "what else is out there?" and when you are a fern addict like me, you start to seek out the "heavy stuff". This week we look take a close look at some of the most popular tree fern species. A Dicksonia antarctica garden http://www.tomstuartsmith.co.uk/projects/private-gardens/london-garden Viewed on 5/4/18 A "Soft Tree Fern" D. antarctica https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1025141 Viewed on 5/4/18 Dicksonia antarctica   You will notice that this species has a much thicker trunk than C.cooperi and has more fronds at its crown. One awesome feature about this species is that its trunk can be cut and planted in a pot where it will grow new roots (Hicks, 2003). The top will form a new plant while the base will die. It typically grows to 5 meters and produces fronds wh...

L ast week we planted the beautiful “Coin Spotted Tree Fern” Cyathea Cooperi. This week we look again at that species, only this time, it is invasive. Please, don't take your baby tree ferns to Hawaii, they could end up aloha the place... The "coin spots" on a C. cooperi trunk https://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55695/Viewed%20on%2029/3/2018 Viewed on 29/03/18 C. cooperi has bright green lacy fronds, but is best know for its “coin spots” where old fronds have broken off from the slender Trunk (Jones, 1980). It can grow 10 - 12 meters and is found along the eastern coast of Australia in humid environments (Large & Braggins, 2004). C. cooperi distribution https://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2003/cyathea-spp.html Viewed on 29/03/18 Introduced to Hawaii by gardeners for its fast growth rate (Medeiros et. Al , 1992), this species has been cultivated there since the 1950’s (Durand & Goldstein, 2001).  In the 70’s a feral pig outbreak caused major soil dis...

A re you ready to grow your own tree fern? I will be growing a Coin Spotted Tree Fern ( Cyathea cooperi ) as it is native and well adapted to the wet tropics.  An uncoiling tree fern frond. Taken on 22/3/18 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Tree_fern_frond_at_Akatarawa.jpg  Viewed on 22/3/18 Spore Scattered on a sheet of paper. http://cabinetofcuriosities-greenfingers.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/fern-spore-prints.htm   Viewed on 22/3/18 Collecting Spores The easiest way to collect spores is to take a piece of mature frond, with visible sporangia on its underside, and place it on a piece of paper. The spores will be shed onto the paper in a black, brown and yellow powder (Harvey 1993) as the sporangia dry. I would not recommend storing these spores because Cyathea spores can lose their viability after just a few weeks, even when stored in the best conditions (Simabukuro et al. 1998).   Sowing Method Two good mediums to us...