Brisbane Botanic Gardens - Brisbane QLD

Explore the Fern Cultivars in the Fern House. A cultivar is a distinctive plant that arises through selection or breeding from cultivated or wild stock. Its new characteristics are stable and inherited by subsequent generations of the plant. Not every fern variation is worthy of receiving a new cultivar name. Variations that occur include: 1. changes in the leaf margin such as fringing and ruffling; 2. changes in the size of the whole plant such as dwarfing or gigantism; 3. changes in the size of part of the fern such as leaflets becoming larger or smaller; 4. changes in frond colour such as variegation. Make sure you check out the Rasp Fern. This small Hawaiian tree fern has stalks that are dull green and surrounded by a furry mass of golden pulu (hairlike flat scales) which may be used as a packaging material.