Trebrown Nurseries was the first to introduce this plant into cultivation back in 2001 under its old name of Cyathea fenicis, where other retailers now supply our spore and plants using that name. We remain the only collectors of it in the wild. As with most Cyathea sp. their names have had resent revision. We collect our Alsophila fenicis spore from the interior jungle forests on Lanyu island Taiwan. Alsophila fenicis is only found on the Mt. Iraya volcano, Batan Island, Philippines and Lanyu Island Taiwan, and nowhere else in the world.
Usually described as - Trunks 1.2-1.8 m (4-6 ft.), 6 cm in diameter; and that is generally true, however, old plants can grow taller, the tallest one we’ve found (photo above) is to 5 m tall. The gorgeous 1.5 - 2 m long fronds are deeply tripinnatifid.
It grows reasonably fast for a tree fern, and will start to produce a trunk within a few years. However, it then seems to slow it’s growth somewhat, which adds to its value as a conservatory plant, or a houseplant provided a reasonable amount of humidity can be maintained.
Alsophila fenicis grows in dark forest especially in ravines at an altitude of 200-550 m on the island mountains of Lanyu Island. The climate high on this island is cool moist cloud forest. A very rare species, and not known in cultivation. Until we introduced it. Listed in the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants as rare.
