tree fern

American  

noun

1. any of various ferns, mostly tropical and chiefly of the family Cyatheaceae, that attain the size of trees, sending up a straight trunklike stem with foliage at the summit.

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tree fern British  

noun

1. any of numerous large tropical ferns, mainly of the family Cyatheaceae , having a trunklike stem bearing fronds at the top

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Etymology

Origin of tree fern

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tree fern

The most similar modern counterpart might be Dicksonia antarctica, a type of tree fern native to Australasia, but popular in Britain as an ornamental plant.

From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2024

Further study revealed that this tree fern, known as Cyathea rojasiana, transforms the inner part of its dead or dying leaves.

From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2024

The slow growth also means that the tree fern is short enough that when its fronds die, they droop all the way to the ground.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 29, 2024

Now the first full tree fern genome has been successfully sequenced—that of the flying spider-monkey tree fern—hinting at how these peculiar plants accrued such a massive set of genes.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 23, 2022

For instance, the Canadian Scouts wear the maple leaf, and the New Zealanders wear a leaf of the tree fern.

From Young Knights of the Empire : Their Code, and Further Scout Yarns by Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Baron