Cyathea gleichenioides 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 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 open peat

Peat

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...

y grassland

Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...

 and on forest margins, often in groups, at an altitude of 2800-3700 m. The trunk of this plant is erect, up to 3 m tall and about 24 cm in diameter. The narrow 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 tripinnate and about 1 m in length. Around 60 fronds form a rounded crown.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 bears 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 may be either glossy brown with a paler dull margin, or small, pale and fringed. 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 one or two per fertile pinnule and are protected by firm, brown indusia.

C. gleichenioides is a variable species, similar to Cyathea imbricata

Cyathea imbricata

Cyathea imbricata is a species of tree fern endemic to Western New Guinea, where it grows in open forest at an altitude of 3240 m. The trunk of this plant is erect and approximately 2 m tall. Fronds may be bi- or tripinnate and are usually less than 1 m in length. The stipe is dark, spiny, and...

. However, Cyathea macgregorii

Cyathea macgregorii

Cyathea macgregorii is a species of tree fern in the family Cyatheaceae. Its trunk is approximately 3 meters tall and about 24 centimeters thick. It has narrow and tripinnate fronds which are about 1 meter long, occurring in clusters of approximately 60, and form a round crown. The stipe is scaly...

is thought to be its closest relative, differing only in minor details of frond morphology. Large and Braggins (2004) note that it is possible these variations are simply ecological, in which case the two taxa

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...

are conspecific and should be united.