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Alsophila dregei is a tree fern native to sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar, often found in grasslands, stream banks and forest margins. It is rarely grown as an ornamental, and it needs shelter, rich humus and steady moisture to do well.
Alsophila dregei, synonym Cyathea dregei, (common tree fern or gewone boomvaring in Afrikaans) is a widespread species of tree fern in southern Africa.
Within South Africa, it co-occurs with the indigenous forest tree fern (Gymnosphaera capensis) and the invasive Sphaeropteris cooperi from Australia. Further north, outside of South Africa, it coexists with an additional two tree fern species, A. manniana and A. thomsonii.
Alsophila dregei is rarely common in cultivation as an ornamental plant, especially in South Africa and Australia. Plants should be sheltered and grown in rich humus, with a constant supply of moisture. This species can survive light frosts with little damage.
It is distributed widely in sub-Saharan Africa, including Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon in west and west-central Africa, and in eastern and southern Africa from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda to South Africa. It is also native to Madagascar. In West Africa it grows in mountain and plateau grasslands and woodlands from 2,500–7,400 feet (760–2,260 m) elevation.
Rough tree fern · Silver fern · Alsophila latebrosa · Spiny Tree Fern · Alsophila Ferns
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Alsophila dregei by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
