Do You Love Ferns? or Are You Just Frond of Them?



Few plants on the planet can match the majestic beauty offered by the tree fern. I was first exposed to tree ferns growing up as a boy in the rainforest near Mission Beach, where they grew thick along the stream banks. It wasn’t until later in life that I fully appreciated these plants, when I saw them used in the winning garden at the 2010 Chelsea Garden show. I was introduced to this garden in the BBC documentary James Wong and the Malaysian Garden.
2010 Winning Garden at the Chelsea Garden Show.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chelsea_2010._(4644673666).jpgViewed on 7/3/18

Tree Fern Spores

https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=80587Viewed on 7/3/18
You will find some 10,000 species of tree fern (Large & Braggins, 2004) scattered across our globe, in rainforests from South Africa to New Zealand and on our doorstep here in Cairns, Australia. Some of you may have already guessed that tree ferns do not produce a fruit or a flower. Instead they produce spores which can appear like a dust on the underside of the leaves. The trunks of tree ferns are not woody like you might expect, but are a mass of roots that grow upwards as the tree ages. 


Some people get their kicks trying to save the world, but I just want to watch the world "fern".

A root-mass trunk of a tree fern

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trunk_of_an_Australian_tree_fern_(60442).jpg
Viewed on 7/3/18

I will admit, I have become a little obsessed with tree ferns, as you should too. Have you ever considered planting one in your garden? Or keeping one in a pot? With the right level of care, tree ferns make brilliant indoor specimens. Shortly after planting my first tree fern, I began to ask myself...

What is the evolutionary background of the tree fern? What types of tree ferns are found locally and beyond our oceans?  Can a tree fern be an invasive species? How large can tree ferns grow? And what role do tree ferns play in an ecosystem? 

The aim of this blog is to answer all of those questions and more, so be sure to comment and let me know what "waters your trunk" each week.  

Reference List
 
Large, M.F. & Braggins, J.E. 2004, Tree ferns, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria.

Comments

  1. Jeff Jackson8 March 2018 at 21:14

    Don't use up all your fern puns too quickly or you'll be sori.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tasmin9 March 2018 at 18:58

    Ha Ha :) Nice pun :) I look forward to reading your next post!

    ReplyDelete

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