Exquisite Rexoxylon Tree Fern Round from Zimbabwe

Description: This is a very rare tree fern displaying well-preserved cross sections of the roots. These root cross-sections are not only beautiful, but show minute detail. The colors range from grays, to muted browns and whites.

In general, any fern that grows with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level can be called a tree fern. However, the plants formally known as tree ferns comprise a group of large ferns belonging to the families Dicksoniaceae and Cyatheaceae in the order Cyatheales. Tree ferns are found growing in tropical and subtropical areas as well as temperate rainforests in Australia, New Zealand, and other island groups nearby; a few genera extend further, such as Culcita in southern Europe. Like all ferns, tree ferns reproduce by means of spores developed in sporangia on the undersides of the fronds. Unlike flowering plants, tree ferns do not form new woody tissue in their trunk as they grow. Rather, the trunk is supported by a fibrous mass of roots that expands as the tree fern grows.