A fern with an upright stem, growing to the size and form of a tree; as those of the genera Cyathea and Alsophila, found in tropical regions, and in Australia and New Zealand.
1846. J. L. Stokes, Discov. Australia, I. viii. 251. The tree-fern … forms a canopy that perfectly excludes the piercing rays of even an Australian sun.
1871. Kingsley, At Last, xi. Calling a halt … to look at some fresh curiosity; now a tree-fern, now a climbing fern.
1886. A. Winchell, Walks Geol. Field, 150. Much of the coal-vegetation was of the nature of ferns,—some of them tree-ferns.
