The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Sphaeropteris cooperi
Also called Lacy tree fern, Cooper's tree fern, Atf, Australian Tree Fern, Cicatrice Tree Fern, Cooper's Cyathea, Highland Lace
Scaly tree fern is a fast-growing tree fern native to eastern Australia, reaching up to 15 m with a widely spread crown of large fronds. It is grown as a sheltered garden specimen, and it is Sphaeropteris cooperi, not a genus or family entry.
Sphaeropteris cooperi, synonym Cyathea cooperi, also known as lacy tree fern, scaly tree fern, coin spot tree fern, or Cooper's tree fern, is a tree fern native to Australia, in New South Wales and Queensland.
Sphaeropteris cooperi is one of the most commonly cultivated tree ferns as an ornamental plant. It is used in gardens and public landscaping. It is hardy and easy to grow. Heavy frosts may kill the fronds, but plants recover quickly. The plant prefers protected, shady moist conditions but can be grown in sunny areas. It does not do well in full sun and must be well watered. It does not grow in its optimal form in full sun.
Under its synonym Cyathea cooperi it has received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
It has naturalised in Western Australia, South Australia, and parts of New South Wales where it is not native. It has also naturalized in New Zealand, South Africa, Tanzania, the Mascarene Islands, the Azores, Madeira and Hawaii, where it is classified as an invasive species.
Norfolk Tree Fern · Black Tree Fern · Sphaeropteris robusta · Sphaeropteris
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sphaeropteris cooperi 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.
