Definition of tree fern in English:

noun

• A large palmlike fern with a trunk that bears a crown of large fronds. Tree ferns sometimes reach a height of 24 m and occur chiefly in the tropics, particularly the southern hemisphere.

  Cyatheaceae and related families, class Filicopsida: seven genera, in particular Cyathea and Dicksonia

  Example sentences

  • ‘The new Mediterranean Garden is beginning to grow, and the new tree fern now has 6 fronds and more coming on.’
  • ‘In a partial cross section of a tree fern that lived about 200 million years ago, blue chalcedony (a type of quartz) and orange iron oxides and hydroxides have replaced the original structures.’
  • ‘The flat, strappy foliage of the exotic night bloomer contrasts texturally with a bed companion, the enormous, finely cut fronds of an Australian tree fern.’
  • ‘Two years ago, I bought a tree fern and potted it as per instructions.’
  • ‘The tree fern is usually thought of as a conservatory plant, too tender for year-round outdoors except in the most sheltered circumstances, but I seem to notice more and more of them thriving outside.’