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Todea barbara, the king fern, is a large tree-like fern with a stumpy trunk that grows in moist, shaded gullies. It is grown in gardens where it gets shade, moist acidic soil and regular water.
Todea barbara, known as the king fern or crape fern, is a fern in the family Osmundaceae occurring in moist areas of south eastern Australia, and also indigenous to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
The Australian native plant industry has propagated many from spores. They can be readily acquired through nurseries as an ornamental plant for gardens and natural landscaping. Most of these will be of Victorian or NSW origin.
The king fern grows readily in gardens in temperate or subtropical climates. It prefers a spot in moist acidic soil in shade or dappled shade, though can grow in sunnier locations as long as it is watered often.
The king fern grows alongside streams, in rainforest gullies and other wet spots in tall open forest. Occasionally it is found in drier sites in rock crevices among sandstone or granite cliffs or rockfaces.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Todea barbara 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.
