Cyathea spinulosa Image
Cyathea spinulosa
Copyright © Phil Markey

Cyathea spinulosa

Family: Cyatheaceae   

Common Name: Large Spiny Tree Fern

Scientific Synonymy:
Alsophila spinulosa, Cyathea taiwaniana, Cyathea decipiens, Cyathea boninsimensis, Cyathea fauriei

Cold Hardiness Zone: 9b     View the UK and US zone maps

Cyathea spinulosa Information

Identification:
Trunks 4.7-6 m (15-20 ft.) tall, 15 cm in diameter. Stypes persistent, spiny (spines 3-4 mm long at base), 30-40 cm long, 1-2 cm across, greenish, purplish towards the base, fronds tripinnatifid to tripinnate; pinnae 45-60 cm long, the lower pinnae much shortened (15-20 cm long); pinnules 8-10 cm long, shor-stalked, the margins serrate; veins usually once-forked (sometimes in groups of 3 or 4); upper surface hispid alng rachis, rachillae and costae; lower surface glabrous with small thin ovate or irregular scales along costae and veins; stipe scales brown, shiny, 20 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, margins dull. Sori round, large, in rows on either side of casta; indusia thin, membranceous, globose, fugacious.

General Information:
This is the tallest Taiwan fern. A relatively graceful tree fern that is pretty rare in cultivation. The fronds are very finely divided and lacy. Found in denser, darker forest than C. lepifera. Grows at the highest elevation of any tree fern in Taiwan, from 300 m to over 2500 m alt. It can handle light freezes. Listed in the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants as rare.

Distribution:

Native to

Work in progress
Distribution Information currently being revised!

Location: Taiwan (23.507116°N, 120.811844°E)

Observations
Map may not represent the complete natural distribution. (Markers display observation data).

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