page_title: Tree fern
section_title: Species
hierarchical_section_title: Tree fern / Species
caption_attribution_description: English: Tree Ferns at Combe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park, North Devon, England. The person (myself) is 6 feet high. Taken by Adrian Pingstone in July 2004 and released to the public domain. Tree fern
context_page_description: The tree ferns are the ferns that grow with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level. Most tree ferns are members of the "core tree ferns", belonging to the families Dicksoniaceae, Metaxyaceae, and Cibotiaceae in the order Cyatheales. This order is the third group of ferns known to have given rise to tree-like forms. The two others are the Marattiales, a eusporangiate order that the extinct Psaronius evolved from, and the order Polypodiales where the extinct genus Tempskya belongs.
  In addition to those families, many ferns in other groups may be considered tree ferns, such as several ferns in the family Osmundaceae, which can achieve short trunks under a metre tall, and particularly ferns in the genus Cibotium, which can grow ten metres tall. Fern species with short trunks in the genera Blechnum, Calochleana, Cnemedaria, Culcita, Cystodium, Leptopteris, Lophosoria, Sadleria, Thyrsopteris and Todea could also be considered tree ferns in a liberal interpretation of the term.
context_section_description: It is not certain the exact number of species of tree ferns there are, but it may be closer to 600-700 species. Many species have become extinct in the last century as forest habitats have come under pressure from human intervention.
  Location of species
  Lophosoria (tropical America, 1 species)
  Metaxya (tropical America, 1 species)
  Sphaeropteris (tropical America, India, Southeast Asia to New Zealand, the Marquesas, and Pitcairn Island, about 120 species)
  Alsophila (pantropic area, about 230 species)
  Nephelea (tropical America, about 30 species)
  Trichipteris (tropical America, about 90 species)
  Cyathea (tropical America, about 110 species)
  Cnemidaria (tropical America, about 40 species)
  Dicksonia (tropics and southern subtropics in Island Southeast Asia, Australasia, America, Hawaii, St. Helena, about 25 species)
  Cystodium (Island Southeast Asia, 1 species)
  Thyrsopteris (Juan Fernández Islands, 1 species)
  Culcita (tropical America, Azores, Island Southeast Asia, Australasia, about 7 species)
  Cibotium (Southeast Asia, Hawaii, Central America, about 12 species)
caption: Transplanted Dicksonia antarctica tree ferns at Combe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park, North Devon, England
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