Dicksonia arborescens

Dicksonia arborescens, the Saint Helena tree fern, is a characteristic plant of the "tree fern thicket" vegetation of the highest parts of the central ridge of the island of Saint Helena. It is the type species of the genus Dicksonia.

Saint Helena tree fern
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Cyatheales
Family: Dicksoniaceae
Genus: Dicksonia
Species:
D. arborescens
Binomial name
Dicksonia arborescens
Botanical illustration of leaf

It is important as a major component of a vegetation type that is one of the last remnants of the native vegetation. Many of the other endemic plants of this vegetation germinate as seedlings on the trunks of the tree fern, which thus acts as a nursery for the native flora.

The genus Dicksonia contains several species widely dispersed around the world. L'Héritier described the Saint Helena species in 1789, from cultivated specimens he saw while living in London.

The species is most closely related to Dicksonia berteriana, native to the Juan Fernández Islands west of Chile.[1]

See also

References
  1. Noben, Sarah; Kessler, Michael; Quandt, Dietmar; Weigand, Anna; Wicke, Susann; Krug, Michael; Lehnert, Marcus (2017-07-11). "Biogeography of the Gondwanan tree fern family Dicksoniaceae-A tale of vicariance, dispersal and extinction". Journal of Biogeography. 44 (11): 2648–2659. doi:10.1111/jbi.13056. ISSN 0305-0270.


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