Trebrown Nurseries was the first to introduce this plant into cultivation back in 2001 under its old name of Cyathea podophylla, where other retailers now supply our spore and plants using that name. As with most Cyathea sp. their names have had resent revision. We collect our Gymnosphaera podophylla spore from high elevation mountain forests on the Taiwan mainland, therefore we regard this provenance as being in the cold-hardier end of the species’ natural range, and thereby believe this provenance capable of tolerating, but with some defoliation, several degrees of frost.
Gymnosphaera podophylla has some notable characters, in that the pinnae (leaflets) are simple of 2-orders, whereas most other Cyatheaceae have feathered pinnae of more than 2-orders. The trunk retains the old frond-stipes, which are warty and dark polished purple.
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. I have not seen any plant in the wild taller than 6ft (1.8 m) and they’re usually much shorter than that.
It grows in dark forest by streams and in ravines at an altitude of 600-2000 m. 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.
