Todea barbara
King Fern
King Fern
Wikipedia links: Monilophytes > Osmundales > Osmundaceae > Todea barbara
Other links:
Species: T barbara
Common name: King Fern
Conservation status: Least concer
Endangerd in South Australia
Etymology:
Named in honour of Heinrich Julius Tode (1733–1797), German botanist and clergyman
Spores:
Leaves:
Fronds are up to 2.5 m long
Stem & branches:
Roots:
Habit:
Grows up to 3 m tall, but has a short stumpy base
Habitat:
Grows alongside streams, in rainforest gullies and other wet spots in tall open forest
Occasionally it is found in drier sites in rock crevices among sandstone or granite cliffs or rockfaces
Distribution:
Occurring in moist areas of south eastern Australia, and also indigenous to New Zealand and South Africa
In New Zealand, it is restricted to Northland, where it is found from North Cape to Whangarei,Kai Iwi Lakes, and Three Kings Islands
In South Australia:
It is increasingly rare, with small groups occurring in just a few disparate localities in the Mount Lofty Ranges
The largest remaining stand was in Uraidla on private property, on the upper reaches of "Deep Creek", a tributary to Sixth Creek in the Torrens Catchment
In the 1970s, many ancient two metre tall fern trunks were removed by a plant poacher at night, possibly under the mistaken belief that they were tree ferns, which can transplant readily
Mature king ferns do not
There are a few remnants in this gully today and some local native plant specialists have propagated plants from spores from this site, which may be grown in the home garden or planted along creek edges
Additional notes:
Taxonomy
Carl Linnaeus described the king fern in volume II of his Species Plantarum as Acrostichum barbarum in 1753, from Africa
Thomas Moore gave it its current name in 1857
Cultivation
The Australian native plant industry has propagated many from spores
They can be readily acquired through nurseries as an ornamental plant for gardens and natural landscaping
Most of these will be of Victorian or NSW origin
The king fern grows readily in gardens in temperate or subtropical climatesIt prefers a spot in moist acidic soil in shade or dappled shade, though can grow in sunnier locations as long as it is watered often
Sources of information: