Species
+

Dicksonia antarctica Labill.

Australian Tree Ferns, Australian Tree-fern, Australian tree fern, Australian treefern

Climate known 66 photographs Fern or moss
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Dicksonia antarctica, commonly known as the soft tree fern, is a species of fern native to eastern Australia, ranging from south-east Queensland to Tasmania. It is commonly grown as an ornamental both in Australia and elsewhere.

Text from Wikipedia, “Dicksonia antarctica”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Dicksonia

Dicksonia is a genus of tree ferns in the order Cyatheales. It is regarded as related to Cyathea, but is considered to retain more primitive traits, dating back at least to the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossil record includes stems, pinnules, and spores.

Text from Wikipedia, “Dicksonia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Dicksoniaceae
Described by
Labill.
Native to
New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania +1
Wild records
1852 in range· 1676 open

At a glance

Warmest month
22°C
Jan, mean day; nights 12 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1053mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Aug 111 mm (CHELSA)
Light
11–43DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a fern or moss by the genus Dicksonia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (November to June in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1053 mm a year, wettest August at 111 mm, driest February at 59 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 43 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 5 °C (archetype minimum for a fern or moss, above the 1.4 °C habitat night).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Balantium antarcticum (Labill.) C.Presl; Cibotium billardieri (Labill.) Kaulf.; Dicksonia billardierei (Labill.) F.Muell.

Cultivation

Grouped as a fern or moss by the genus Dicksonia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (November to June in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (773 mm of 1053 mm) takes 8 months, May to December. Mean temperature moves 9.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: November to June.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1053 mm a year, wettest August at 111 mm, driest February at 59 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1053 mm a year at the habitat, 773 mm of it May to December. Wettest month August at 111 mm, driest February at 59 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 804 mm to 1459 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 43 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 9, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 5 °C (archetype minimum for a fern or moss, above the 1.4 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 1.4 °C, the absolute minimum -1.2 °C, 11 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 3.3 °C in July (across the envelope cells 0.3 °C to 7.0 °C), warmest day 21.6 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 5 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 1.4 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a fern or moss (grouped by the genus Dicksonia, which is reliably one kind of plant) is 5 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 10 °C in Jul to 22 °C in Jan; mean night from 3 °C in Jul to 12 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1053 mm of rain a year, most in Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1005 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -1.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost35.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-1.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 11–43RH 60–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1005 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C22 / 18–2521 / 18–2519 / 16–2216 / 13–1913 / 10–1611 / 8–1310 / 7–1211 / 8–1413 / 10–1615 / 12–1917 / 14–2119 / 16–23
Night °C12 / 9–1512 / 9–1511 / 8–148 / 5–126 / 3–104 / 1–83 / 0–74 / 1–75 / 2–87 / 4–109 / 6–1110 / 7–13
Rain mm69 / 51–10559 / 43–11570 / 53–10382 / 58–11390 / 60–131103 / 68–158102 / 59–175111 / 58–17997 / 58–15293 / 69–13691 / 67–12086 / 66–118
DLI43 / 40–4638 / 34–4130 / 26–3221 / 17–2414 / 11–1811 / 9–1512 / 10–1717 / 15–2325 / 22–3034 / 30–3740 / 37–4243 / 40–46
RH %60 / 56–6260 / 57–6361 / 58–6462 / 60–6564 / 61–6866 / 61–7065 / 60–7064 / 58–6862 / 57–6560 / 57–6360 / 58–6260 / 57–62

Each figure is the median across the 1005 grid cells holding the 1837 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2510:6599 (-35.525, 149.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 1.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1005 distinct grid cells holding the 1837 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2510:6599 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -35.50_150.000, lapse-corrected +39 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 454 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeNew South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria· introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Azores, Madeira, Cape Provinces
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-37.803, 145.857 · in the densest population, 1260 records (68% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1852 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 1676 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2 km away. 43 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 15 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1852 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dicksonia antarcticaDicksonia antarcticaDicksonia antarcticaDicksonia antarcticaDicksonia antarcticaDicksonia antarcticaDicksonia antarcticaDicksonia antarctica

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (4); (c) Hugo Innes, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Belinda Forbes, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Stella Fish, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Dicksonia antarctica, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Reconstruction of the Oligocene vegetation at Pioneer, northeast Tasmania
Robert S. Hill, Mike Macphail (1983) · Alcheringa An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology
Logging and fire regimes alter plant communities
Elle Bowd, David B. Lindenmayer, Sam C. Banks, David Blair (2018) · Ecological Applications
Isoprene emissions and photosynthesis in three ferns – The influence of light and temperature
David T. Tingey, R. C. Evans, Emily H. Bates, Marcia L. Gumpertz (1987) · Physiologia Plantarum
Fern spore extracts can damage DNA
Sanna E. Simán, Andrew C. Povey, Timothy H. Ward, Geoffrey P. Margison (2000) · British Journal of Cancer
How old are Wet Forest understories?
STEPHEN G. MUECK, Keely Ough, John C. G. Banks (1996) · Australian Journal of Ecology
Endogenous Gibberellins from Sporophytes of Two Tree Ferns, Cibotium glaucum and Dicksonia antarctica
Hisakazu Yamane, Shozo Fujioka, Clive R. Spray, Bernard O. Phinney (1988) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Ecophysiology of the Soft Tree Fern, Dicksonia antarctica Labill
MA Hunt, N. Davidson, Greg Unwin, Dugald C. Close (2002) · Austral Ecology
The effect of clearfell logging on tree-ferns in Victorian Wet Forest
Keely Ough, Anna E. Murphy (1996) · Australian Forestry
Radiocarbon Dating Informs Tree Fern Population Dynamics and Disturbance History of Temperate Forests in Southeast Australia
Melissa Fedrigo, Stephen B. Stewart, Sabine Kasel, Vladimir Levchenko (2018) · Radiocarbon
Non-linear growth in tree ferns, Dicksonia antarctica and Cyathea australis
David Blair, Wade Blanchard, Sam C. Banks, David B. Lindenmayer (2017) · PLoS ONE

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 36 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.