English: Rough Tree Fern,
Synonym: Alsophila australis; Alsophila loddigesii; Cyathea loddigesii.
Aboriginal: Beeow-wang; Pooeet; Nanga-nanga
Region: Australia, southeastern Queensland, New South Wales, southern Victoria in, Tasmania, Norfolk Island.
Habitat: tolerant of salty winds; hardy; adaptable to a variety of climates and soils; in moist shady forest, coastal and montane; altitude up to 1280 m; prefers high moisture levels; tolerates frost and full sun, or shade in warmer regions.
Use: top of the trunk for starch, raw and roasted; ornamental, popular landscape and container plant.
BotanyFern; tree.
Roots: quite adventitious.
Stem: massive, erect; up to 12 to 20 m tall; with tubercles and hair-like follicles; covered with scales and conical, blunt spines towards the base; scales from shiny brown to pale and brown, distinctly twisted.
Leaves: bipinnate or tripinnate; 4 to 6 m long; forming a distinctive crown; dark green above, lighter green below; stipe bases retained around the trunk long after withering.
Sori: circular; on either side of the fertile pinnule midvein; indusia are absent, although reduced scales may encircle the sori.