<< Previous Next >>

Cyathea Brownie Spores


Cyathea Brownie Spores
Photo Information
Copyright: Janice Dunn (Janice) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3452 W: 144 N: 5895] (17468)
Genre: Plants
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-07-08
Categories: Trees
Camera: Canon EOS 300D, Tamron 28-300 XR
Exposure: f/5.6, 1/125 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): New Zealand ferns, Janice's FerNZ [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2008-06-29 2:56
Viewed: 557
Points: 18
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Cyathea brownie
(sigh-ATH-ee-uh brownee)
"Norfolk Island Tree Fern"

Last year we holidayed on Norfolk Island and saw many of these ferns.

But this is one that I saw at the Auckland Botanic Gardens two years ago. I was impressed by how different they were to the usual NZ ferns and also how large they are.

I knew they weren’t one of our usual NZ ferns. Fortunately it had a ‘name’ and it is a Norfolk Island Tree Fern, Cyathea brownie. The colours of the newly opening fronds and the thickness and colours of and crowns crosiers certainly caught our attention as we wandered through the grounds at the Botanic Gardens.

The Norfolk Island Tree Fern is regarded as the largest of all tree ferns, but in a cooler climate others can grow bigger. It is a very robust, beautiful species, spectacular in size and appearance. It is not very common in cultivation outside of Australia. The fronds can reach up to 20' long and are held in a most attactive habit, and the trunk, which is quite thick under humid conditions, can in the wild reach an incredible height of 100'! As the fern ages, the trunk appears to look more woody and may also show some taper.

• What interests me with this photo is the sporangia that show up quite well.
• The spores grow inside casings called sporangia.
• The sporangia may clump together into what are called sori (singular: sorus).
• Sometimes these sori follow the fern leaf veins, sometimes they are set into indentations in the underside of the pinna.
• Not every frond has spores under it: fronds that have the spores are called fertile fronds.

These Cyathea brownie ferns are very easily raised from spores.

Auckland’s Botanical Gardens, are home to over 10,000 plants from around the world, and cover 64 hectares in Manurewa, South Auckland. A key objective of the Botanic Gardens has been to identify those plants best suited to growing in Auckland conditions.
haraprasan, Heaven, eqshannon, uleko, red45 has marked this note useful
Only registered TrekNature members may rate photo notes.
Add Critique [Critiquing Guidelines] 
Only registered TrekNature members may write critiques.
Discussions
None
You must be logged in to start a discussion.

Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • siggi Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 286 W: 3 N: 779] (2796)
  • [2008-06-29 3:04]

Hello Janice,
wonderful shot and nice macro!I like it.
Well done.
Greetings.
Siegfried

Hi Janice,
A nice capture of this beautiful fern leaves along with the spores. Very well composed with sharp details. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Hi Janice!

You present us another beautiful fern picture. I thought at you this morning during my early morning summer walk when I was in the deep forest near a little river where beautiful ferns were glowing in the few sunrays that the trees let through. I like the patterns and shapes and the colour management very much. Maybe a larger range of the depth of field could be appropriate.

Kind regards

Markus

You and Ulla...Whenever I see patterns I think right off of you and Ulla...but then Markus is also quite the esoteric master...or maybe he would not refer himself as esoteric...this however might be a bit closer to that technique of patterns in organic energy!
Bob

  • Great 
  • eng55 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 353 W: 3 N: 376] (1127)
  • [2008-06-29 23:49]

Hi Janice,
Beautiful capture of this beautiful fern.Very well composed.Colors,details and lighting are excellent.
Thanks for posting.

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2466 W: 168 N: 7458] (23564)
  • [2008-06-30 1:59]

Hello Janice,
I quite understand your fascination for ferns they're really interesting plants. This is a very fine close-up of one showing the frond details and spores very clearly. eautiful colours and well composed too!
Many thanks and cheers, Ulla

  • Great 
  • red45 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2830 W: 75 N: 8024] (26861)
  • [2008-06-30 12:10]

Hello Janice!

Yeah, sporangia and spores! My favourite plant with flood of spores. Delicious :-)

  • Great 
  • Graal Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Silver Note Writer [C: 788 W: 31 N: 20] (5002)
  • [2008-07-01 12:13]

Hi Janice,
amazing pattern, interesting species of fern. Excellent quality of photo. Good note. Well done picture.
Gr., Aleksander

Hi Janice,
Beautiful close up! and I love the 101 class on the cyathia brownie, you have educated me well. I agree the detail is fantaic showing the spore nodules growing under the leaf, mother nature is pretty amazing. The botanical garden sounds pretty amazing. TFS
Paul :)

Calibration Check
















0123456789ABCDEF