| Dicksonia
antarctica (manfern or soft tree fern) is one of
Tasmania's three tree fern species (all are native). It is
the only species of the genus in Tasmania and by far the
most common tree fern on the island. It can be found in wet
sclerophyll forest and rainforest throughout Tasmania
(except in at high altitudes and on very nutrient poor
sites). It has a thick fibrous trunk (often ~20-30cm wide at
mid height), that may be as much as 15m tall. The leaves are
many times pinnate and the sori are at the margins,
protected by a hard flap of tissue from the lamina (an
indusium) as well as the recurved margin.
This species almost universally called manfern, but the
less often used common name (soft tree fern) refers to the
fibrous trunk, not the foliage itself, which is much
harder than that of the other tree ferns (Cyathea
species).
Immature, trunkless plants can be confused with Polystichum proliferum,
but that species has dark brown scales on the undersides
of the leaves.
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University of Tasmania
