Cyathea cucullifera is a species of tree fern

Cyatheales

The order Cyatheales is a taxonomic division of the fern subclass, Cyatheatae, which includes the tree ferns. No clear morphological features characterize all of the Cyatheales, but DNA sequence data indicates that the order is monophyletic. Some species in the Cyatheales have tree-like growth...

 native to eastern New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, where it grows in montane forest at an altitude of about 2400 m. The trunk is erect and 2-3 m tall. Frond

Frond

The term frond refers to a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group...

s are bi- or tripinnate and 2-3 m long. Characteristically of this species, they occur in two whorls of four to six fronds each. The stipe

Stipe (botany)

In botany, a stipe is a stalk that supports some other structure. The precise meaning is different depending on which taxonomic group is being described....

 is warty and covered with scale

Scale (zoology)

In most biological nomenclature, a scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of an animal's skin to provide protection. In lepidopteran species, scales are plates on the surface of the insect wing, and provide coloration...

s. The scales are dark, glossy, have a narrow paler margin and are large towards the base. Sori

Sorus

A sorus is a cluster of sporangia .In fungi and lichens, the sorus is surrounded by an external layer. In some red algae it may take the form of a depression into the thallus....

 occur near the fertile pinnule midvein and are covered by thin, pale brown indusia that are scale-like in appearance.