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  4. Dicksonia fibrosa

Dicksonia fibrosa

Waikanae River.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 27/04/1984, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Eastern Wairarapa.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/10/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Eastern Wairarapa.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 10/10/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Sori. Rangaika, Chatham Island.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 01/06/2013, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
View into crown of young Dicksonia fibrosa; Paengaroa SR, Mataroa near Taihape.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Date taken: 15/01/2017, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Rangaika, Chatham Island.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 01/06/2013, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Wainuiomata.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 03/04/2016, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/10/2016, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Common name

Wheki-ponga, wheki-kohoonga, golden tree fern, kuripaka

Synonyms

Dicksonia sparmanniana Colenso; Dicksonia antarctica var. fibrosa (Colenso) Kirk; Dicksonia fibrosa var. microcarpa (Colenso) C.Chr.; Balantium fibrosum (Colenso) Fée; Dicksonia antarctica sensu Hook.f.; Dicksonia microcarpa Colenso

Family

Dicksoniaceae

Authority

Dicksonia fibrosa Colenso

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Structural class

Ferns

NVS code

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

DICFIB

Chromosome number

2n = 130

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley.

2012 | Not Threatened

Previous conservation statuses

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Brief description

Stout tree fern up to 10 m tall. Trunk solitary, dense, made of red-brown interwoven rootlets, Fronds forming dense crown, dying and leaving a tidy, persistent skirt beneath crown.

Distribution

Endemic. North, South, Stewart, and Chatham islands. Uncommon north of the Waikato River and Coromandel Peninsula

Habitat

Coastal to montane, Usually in forested situations, often in riparian sites or at gulley heads.

Features

Stout, non-rhizomatous tree ferns, up to 10 m tall. Trunk up to 1 m diameter, very dense, composed of tightly interwoven, red-brown rootlets, entirely without aerial buds. Fronds numerous, persistent in death, and forming a dense, pendent skirt; in life erect and arching, forming a dense, tight crown 1.2–2.8–3.6 m long, 300–480(–600) mm wide. Stipes 100(–300) mm long, pale brown to red-brown (sometimes golden-brown), smooth, base densely clad with persistent, soft, light red-brown hairs; immature rachises initially clad in soft, pale brown hairs, otherwise glabrate. Lamina (0.9–)2.5–3.3 m long, lanceolate, (2–)3–4-pinnate, abaxially glossy dark green, adaxially paler, harshly coriaceous, primary pinnae 150–280(–300) mm long, lanceolate, long tapering, ± acuminate; secondary pinnae 40–50 mm long, lanceolate, close-set to ± overlapping. Barren pinnules 5 mm long, subfalcate, acute, toothed or entire, widened and confluent at base, shallowly concavo-convex; fertile pinnules rounded, concavo-convex lobes. Sorus ± ovoid to rounded, terminating veins at fertile pinnae margins; sporangia on raised receptacle, partially obscured by in rolled pinnae margin, and submembranous inner indusium. Spores golden brown to red-brown.

Similar taxa

Dicksonia fibrosa is easily recognised by its non-rhizomatous tree fern growth habit; dense, stout trunk (reaching up to 1 m diameter) and comprised of thickly interwoven red-brown rootlets, and never bearing aerial buds; by the smooth stipes; and by the dead fronds forming a dense, pendent, persistent tidy skirt

Flowering

Not applicable - spore producing

Flower colours

No flowers

Fruiting

Not applicable - spore producing

Propagation technique

Easily grown from fresh spores, and also by transplants of mature trunked specimens. A beautiful but slow-growing species that does best in cooler climates, in a damp, humus-enriched soil.

Etymology

dicksonia: After James Dickson (1738-1822), British botanist and nuseryman

fibrosa: Fibrous, from the Latin fibra; matted fibrous trunk

Where To Buy

Commonly available from most mainline and specialist native plant nurseries.

Taxonomic Notes

Very closely allied to the Australian Dicksonia antarctica R.Br.

Attribution

Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (10 October 2010). Description by P.J. de Lange

References and further reading

Duguid, F. 1978. Annual growth of new fronds on Dicksonia fibrosa. Wellington Botanical Society Bulletin, 40: 48-49

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Dicksonia fibrosa Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/dicksonia-fibrosa/ (Date website was queried)

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