Cyathea doctersii 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...

 endemic

Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...

 to Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...

, where it grows in forest at an altitude of approximately 150 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. 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 covered with scattered flat, brown 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 and some hairs. 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, brown indusia that are scale-like in appearance.

C. doctersii appears to be most closely related to Cyathea javanica

Cyathea javanica

Cyathea javanica is a species of tree fern native to western Java and Sumatra, where it grows in rain forest and on riverbanks at an altitude of 250-1500 m. The trunk of this plant is erect and up to about 10 m tall. Fronds may be bi- or tripinnate and 2-3 m in length. The stipe is spiny and bears...

. Large and Braggins (2004) note that it may in fact be of hybrid origin between C. javanica and a member of the Cyathea latebrosa

Cyathea latebrosa

Cyathea latebrosa is a common and widespread species of tree fern native to Indochina. Its natural range covers Cambodia and Thailand, and stretches from the Malay Peninsula to Indonesia, where it is present on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Plants reported from India and Sri Lanka have thinner...

complex.

The specific epithet

Epithet

An epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...

 doctersii commemorates botanist Willem Marius Docters van Leeuwen (1880-1960), who collected numerous plant species in Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

.