The tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae, Dicksoniaceae, Metaxyaceae, and Cibotiaceae. It is estimated that Cyatheales originated in the early Jurassic, and is the third group of ferns known to have given rise to tree-like forms. The others are the extinct Tempskya of uncertain position, and Osmundales where the extinct Guaireaceae and some members of Osmundaceae also grew into trees. In addition there were the Psaroniaceae and Tietea in the Marattiales, which is the sister group to most living ferns including Cyatheales.
Dicksonia squarrosa, the New Zealand tree fern, whekī or rough tree fern, is a common tree fern endemic to New Zealand. It has a slender black trunk that is usually surrounded by many dead brown fronds.
Alsophila dregei, synonym Cyathea dregei, is a widespread species of tree fern in southern Africa.
Hypolepis (beadfern) is a genus of ferns described as a genus in 1806. The word is derived from Greek, meaning "under scale". It is found in tropical and subtropical regions, primarily in the New World but also in the Old World and on various oceanic islands.
Pellaea calidirupium, the hot rock fern, is a fern of eastern Australia and New Zealand restricted to rocky areas in relatively arid environments. In Tasmania, where it is considered rare, it is only found on the East Coast, the Midlands, and lower slopes of the Central Plateau on dry rock faces. It is also found in Victoria and Queensland. The species was originally described from New Zealand.
Gleichenia microphylla is a small fern growing in Australia and New Zealand.
Cheilanthes distans is a species of lip fern known by the common name bristly cloak fern. It has a woolly appearance with small white hairs on the top side of the fronds, and a rusty brown underneath.
Polystichum vestitum, commonly known as the prickly shield fern or pūnui (Maori), is a hardy, evergreen or semi-evergreen ground fern.
Sticherus cunninghamii, also known as umbrella fern, is a New Zealand endemic fern.
Pyrrosia eleagnifolia, commonly known as the leather-leaf fern, or ota in Māori, is a climbing fern endemic to New Zealand. P. eleagnifolia has thick, fleshy rounded leaves, and grows both on the ground and as an epiphyte.
Sestra humeraria, also known as huarau looper, is a species of moth in the family Geometridae. It was described by Francis Walker in 1861. This species is endemic to New Zealand.
Hypolepis sparsisora, the giant edgelobed fern, is an Afrotropical fern species with an extensive range in Africa and Madagascar, where it occurs at diverse elevations. In South Africa it is present in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape.
Tasmania is home to 'Australia’s largest cool temperate rainforests. Most of Tasmania’s rainforests occur in the North-West and throughout the North East highlands. Cool temperate rainforests typically have a heavy rainfall, cool climate, favor high altitudes and have a limited availability of light.
Dicksonia lanata is a fern endemic to New Zealand. Colloquial names include stumpy tree fern, tūākura and tūōkura.
Hypolepis parallelogramma is a species of fern native to the foothills of the Andes.
Dipteris conjugata is a species of fern. It has a rhizome, and 2-3 tall stems with mid green or dark green fronds, which have several divisions to toothed lobes. It is grows in clearings, mountain ridges and in forest margins, from tropical and temperate Asia, northern Queensland in Australia and some islands in the Pacific Ocean. It has limited native medicinal uses.
Hymenophyllum rarum, the narrow filmy-fern, is a species of fern from the family Hymenophyllaceae. This thin-leaved fern is commonly found in New Zealand and Tasmania, growing in patches on rocks and is epiphytic on trees and tree ferns, growing in moist gullies or rainforests. A rather drought tolerant species often found at exposed sites ranging from coastal to montane areas. Forming extensive, interwoven and creeping patches with its thin long (creeping) rhizomes sparsely covered in red-brown hairs, easily recognised by its membranous grey-green fronds, the smooth margins of the pinnae, ultimate segments and indusia; and by the sunken sori in the uppermost segments of the uppermost pinnae. The species can be found throughout Tasmanian rainforests as well as occurring in New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand on the North and South Islands as well as, Stewart, Chatham and Auckland Islands.
Sticherus tener, also known as silky fan-fern, is a common native ground-fern in the family Gleicheniaceae. It occurs growing along watercourses and drainage lines in rainforest that are dominated by Nothofagus cunninghamii. In Australia, it occurs in the states of Tasmania and Victoria. In New Zealand, it is known from two disjoint regions on the South Island. Like in other members of this genus, Sticherus tener have bright green fronds with repeatedly forking branches, branches bearing linear-shaped segments at almost right angles to the axis and form umbrella-like bush colony.
Hiya is a genus of ferns belonging to the family Dennstaedtiaceae. Described in 2018, it resembles ferns of the genus Hypolepis but differs from it by multiple characteristics: scrambling, indeterminate and intermittent growth of fronds; stipule-like pinnules at the base of pinnae, and a rachis-costa architecture where the adaxial sulcus of the rachis is continuous with that of the costae and costules.
