Cyathea geluensis 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 central and 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...

 as well as the Louisiade Archipelago

Louisiade Archipelago

The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands located 200 km southeast of New Guinea, stretching over more than and spread over an ocean area of between the Solomon Sea to the north and the Coral Sea to...

, where it grows in mossy forest. In New Guinea itself, plants grow at an altitude of 1000-2000 m, however they are present at lower elevations of 700-900 m on associated islands. The trunk of this tree fern is erect and may be 5 m tall or more. 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 1-2.5 m long. They are usually about ten live fronds present in the crown at once. 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....

 may be warty and/or have short spines as well as many scattered 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 towards the base. These scales are pale to dark and have dull, fragile edges. 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 protected by pale, thin indusia. C. geluensis is a variable taxon

Taxon

|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...

 and further study is needed to determine whether it does not in fact represent a species complex.

Large and Braggins (2004) note that 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...

 geluensis probably refers to the island of Jalun or Gelun.