Cyathea cooperi: the dinosaurs fed on its ancestors

The tree fern Cyathea cooperi, synonymous of  Sphaeropteris cooperi, is down from the giant ferns that formed huge forests millions of years ago. Their tender fronds were the favorite food of herbivorous dinosaurs, many of them with long necks, as is currently the giraffes, allowed them to reach the central bud of tender ferns.

 

The Cyathea cooperi is Australian, native of New South Wales and Queensland. The man, captivated by her antediluvian beauty, has spread to every country in the world with a temperate climate similar to its place of origin, both in botanical gardens and in urban gardens and individuals. It has become naturalized in Hawaii and the Azores. Not too heavy frost resist and prefers to grow in the shade or partial shade of tall trees, and direct sun will burn the fronds. It is essentially a fern understory. Under optimal conditions can reach 15 meters high with a trunk 30 inches thick.

Cyathea cooperi beautiful about 4 meters in a Cryptomeria forest at Caldeira do Faial in the Azores Archipelago. On these atlantic islands, wet and temperate with high humidity, it has naturalized and forms mixed forests with plants native to the Macaronesian laurel and other plants introduced as the Japanese conifer Cryptomeria japonica, rhododendron, hydrangea, etc ...

 

Group of young Cyathea cooperi of two meters high surrounded by giant Cryptomeria japonica in a forest on the Island of Faial.

 

Curious picture of three introduced and invasive plants, Cyathea cooperi, Cryptomeria japonica and Rhododendron indicum, which by themselves are thick forests in the Azores, greatly hindering the survival of native trees and shrubs typical of the laurel forest.

 

Three Cyathea cooperi in a garden in the city of Funchal on the Island of Madeira. Grow in the partial shade of towering palm trees that protect them from intense sun of this beautiful subtropical island.

 

Specimen of about three feet high that grows in the shade of giant trees in the beautiful Orotava Botanical Garden in the Canary island of Tenerife, specializing in tropical and subtropical plants. This garden is a must for all lovers of exotic plants. Species diversity is enormous.

 

Another specimen of the garden seen against the light. (Double click on the picture to enlarge)

 

Detail of the insertion in the trunk of the petioles of the fronds. Particularly striking is the abundant pilosity consisting of long straw-colored woolly paleae.

 

Scars in the form of comb honey left by the petioles on the trunk and give a great beauty.

Frond new in May with the typical coiled shape, which follows the Fibonacci mathematical sequence.

Very large sporangium Cyathea cooperi after spore dispersal.

Spiculated surface triangular spores that germinate easily.

Cyathea cooperi tiny frond finished her first birth at five months of sowing the spores.

Dryopteris pallida ssp. balearica, endemic to Mallorca

Spanish territory is home to three endemic Dryopteris: the Asturian male fern, Dryopteris corleyi, endemic in Asturias and Cantabria, the canary male fern, Dryopteris oligodonta, endemic to most western Canary Islands and finally the Dryopteris pallida ssp. balearica, Majorcan sister of Dryopteris pallida ssp. palllida, who lives in the western Mediterranean.

Group Dryopteris pallida ssp. balearica in a limestone crevice very shady and cool towards the north a few meters from the sea. It shares its habitat with other Balearic endemic, the Sibthorpia africana, a Scrophulariaceae that grows like a carpet of small rounded leaves covered with hairs. Photograph taken in March at the Puig Fumat of the Formentor peninsula. (Double click on the photo to enlarge)

Sibthorpia africana hairy leaves. Live in shady, damp, cool oriented to the north.
 

Same group of Dryopteris pallida ssp. balearica one year later in July. It is very curious tendency of the apex of the fronds to lean to one side. Particularly striking is the absence of African Sibthorpia, whose stems are dry in summer, is sprouting again with the first rains of autumn.

Solitary specimen growing in a quarry in the Pla de Cuber of the Serra de Tramuntana. A year later it had disappeared by predation by feral goats, which have become a very destructive pest for the endemics to Mallorca. Control until bearable limits is blocked by hunting interests, which move large sums of money.

Small Dryopteris pallida ssp. balearica growing between the stones of a wall patch in the gully of Biniaraix. Its small size is due to continuous grazing of goats and sheep, which every year eat their fronds are most at risk, weakening it and forcing it to sprout in summer when the rains stop and the substrate on which grows completely dried for four long months.

 

Typical frond of Dryopteris pallida ssp. balearica of no more than 25 cm in length, with the petiole at or above the blade, which has a clearly triangular deltoid and a vivid green color.

Sori ripe with typical kidney-shaped form, typical of the genus Dryopteris ferns. Photo taken in July in full dispersion of the spores. (Double click on the photo to enlarge)

Detail of mature sori with reniform indusium lifted, exposing the sporangia as brown balls about to be deployed to disperse the spores.

 

Beautiful sporangium of Dryopteris pallida ssp. balearica ring cells with red and yellow and transparent bag torn and empty after the dispersal of spores.

Finally the spores with perispore and beautiful brown-earth, photographed very cool and well hydrated. Once dispersed they dehydrate partially and decrease slightly in size. If planted in a suitable medium, they germinate easily.