Tree Ferns

The Anglo-Saxon word fearn, meaning feather, gives us the English fern, alluding to the feather-like shape of this plant's leaves. In the Philippines, ferns are commonly called paku; a native speaker might wonder if there is a derivation from pakpak, meaning feather or wing. Unlike most plants, ferns do not produce flowers, fruits, or seeds. New ferns grow Instead from microscopic spores from on the brown, dust-like clusters found on the undersurfaces of mature leaves. Better suited than mosses for life on land, ferns have roots that conduct water and nutrients; with less danger of losing water to dry ground and air, some ferns grow so large they look like trees, with trunkstwo to seven meters high and up to one meter in diameter. These tree ferns, which are not real trees at all, do not develop wood. Their massive trunks is deceiving actually consisting of interwoven roots surrounding a small middle stem less than ten centimeters in diameter.
     In Southeast Asia, there are at least 190 species of tree ferns (Cyathea), 37 of which are found in the Philippines. More than two-thirds of the 37 Philippine species are unique to the country, and five of them are extremely rare and considered endangered: Their trunks are harvested for the local orchid culture industry, either sawn as slabs or broken as potting mixtures for nurseries and greenhouses nationwide.

Original URL: http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/vanishing_treasures/V_Fern.htm