Dicksonia antarctica
Soft tree fern · also Australian tree fern, Tasmanian tree fern, Australian treefern
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Dicksonia antarctica is a robust, attractive tree fern native to eastern Australia, characterized by a thick, fibrous trunk and a large, spreading crown of dark green fronds. It typically dominates wet, shady gullies and serves as a keystone species, providing habitat for other plants and wildlife. While popular in cultivation in temperate regions, it is slow-growing and requires consistently moist conditions, tolerating some frost and shade but susceptible to drought.
Where it grows
Trees in each city's inventory, with the share of that city's named trees this species accounts for.
- 200.01%—8.0 in
- 40.00%——
No city in this list records planting dates for this species, so age is blank throughout.
Traits
- Form
- Spreading
- Foliage
- Evergreen
- Mature height
- 15 ft
- Canopy spread
- 10 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Sun
- Part shade, Full shade
- Soil
- Moist, Humus-rich
- Water needs
- High
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Wildlife value
- High
- Tolerates
- coastal
Trunk diameters across every city: median 8.0 in, mean 8.2 in, 90th percentile 10 in. Measured at breast height, as published by each inventory.
Native range
Terrestrial ecoregions where this species is native. Trees in the dataset mostly stand well outside it.
Temperate Broadleaf & Mixed Forests
- Eastern Australian temperate forests
- Southeast Australia temperate forests
- Tasmanian Central Highland forests
- Tasmanian temperate forests
- Tasmanian temperate rain forests