Dicksonia sellowiana

Origin: South America

This tree fern from South America (from southern Mexico all the way down as far as Uruguay) can now be rated hardy along with lines of Dicksonia antarctica and Dicksonia fibrosa. It's trunk height can grow up to 10 metres (33 feet) which is very fibrous and similar in this respect to Dicksonia fibrosa. Fronds are tripinnate and have an overall length of up to 3 metres on larger plants. Their usual habitat would be in high altitude in cool montane rain forest regions.

In my experience it has proved to be as hardy as both the aforementioned Dicksonias in cultivation in Ireland. It is also very similar in its overall physical appearance as Dicksonia antarctica and as outlined earlier Dicksonia fibrosa. I have had one planted out in a sheltered position in my garden to test out for the past 3 winters and the results are extremely encouraging.

There are couple of minor differences from sellowiana and Dicksonia antarctica that I have noticed. For one the fronds keep coming up throughout the growing season if the plant is kept moist and fed. the other would be the hairs on the stipes would be of a lighter brown to Dicksonia antarctica. the trunk would be more in keeping with Dicksonia fibrosa too. This is a collectors item really due to it's overall similarity to Dicksonia antarctica / Dicksonia fibrosa and it's rarity in cultivation it is never going to be a big seller.

For the first we now have trunked plants available. These are very impressive plants with trunk of up to 40cm available. All of these plants have been cultivated from spore.

Origin : South America
Common Name : Unknown
Hardy scale : Hardy to around -6 Celsius
Flourishes if kept moist and well fed

Size (feet) Size (cm)	Price	Availability
Young plants - no trunk	€ 15.00	available
1 foot trunk (30cm)	€ 85.00	available
2 foot trunk (60cm)	€ POA	available
All spore cultivated