About a month ago, a group of friends, including myself and the two kids, went for a walk through a state park preserving some remnant Mountain Ash rainforest about 12 miles from home. This group has evolved over the last 25 years since the founding of the Latrobe Valley group of what is now the Australian Plants Society. I did the bulk of the work starting this group 25 years ago but unfortunately do not get a lot of time to attend meetings and outings lately, so when this proposed outing came up on a day when my shift working would not interfere with attending I made sure to go.

Mount Worth is the highest point on the Strezlecki hills just to the south of us, peaking at roughly 1700 feet. It is preserved as a state park, a system we have to conserve areas like National parks only at state level of significance rather than national. A lot of the farm land around it would have been cleared by ring-barking all the trees on a slope except for the largest near the ridge line, which would then have been hand fallen several years later when all the other trees were dead, toppling them down under its weight and speed down the slope.

https://www.visitvictoria.com/regions/G ... State-Park

https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to- ... state-park

A number of walking tracks occur through the park, with the ones we were on being down in the gully, hence the focus on ferns in this write up. There are about 24 species of ferns plus one introduced fern allie, a clubmoss, in the park.

The park is also home to the largest earthworm alive, which can reach 1 meter long and about 3 cm thick. They stay well hidden.,

Tree Ferns: these seem to raise the most attention when mentioned to overseas visitors, so I shall start with them. Two species plus, supposedly one Hybrid, occur in the park. I have not seen the hybrid and are unaware of anyone who has.

Cyathea australis, rough tree fern

This fern holds onto the leaf stem bases giving the trunk a rough look and fell, hence the common name.
Showing an isolated plant with typical form Trunk of above plant showing leaf bases A group of Cyatheas showing how persistent the bases are. The largest fern pictured here mmay well be pushing 100 years old

and Dicksonia antartica, soft tree fern.
A group of Dicksonias not far in along the track we took
What you see if you push up and under the frondsof a member of that group. This photo is the equivalent of the second Cyathea photo. But rather than seeing leaf bases, you see root tips, which give it a softer appearance
Looking down and into a crown of a Dicksonia from a bridge that crosses a creek in the park.
Showing the base of a Dicksonia with lighter brown being new root growth. This occurs each year and allows the trunks to become massive, with some being over a meter thick. the root growth occurring in the way it does also allows for the harvesting of the tree ferns by cutting and replanting, rather than having to dig out root balls.
Lastly a comparison of the spore patterns of the two species. Cyathea on the left has spores well in from the edges while Dicksonia has spore sori (packets) on the edges, covered by bit of leaf that have rolled over.

There were four Blechnums or Water ferns seen in the park this day, one thing they all have in common is dimorphic fronds - growth fronds are normally larger and leaf sections wider than the fertile fronds of the same species

Blechnum nudum, which can form small trunks about 3 inches in diameter upto a foot high over the course of a very long time. These are tougher than they look and are often seen in more open areas. The smaller darker fronds are the fertile fronds

Blechnum patersonii which tends to grow on hill sides and have simple fronds. The narrow fronds are the fertile ones here

Blechnum fluvitale

Not very common in this section of the park, only one ratty specimen seen Blechnum wattsii

Easily the biggest of the Blechnums in the park, generally occurs in drier more open Eucalypt scrub rather than in the gullies.
Non fertile frond Dark fertile frond Two light brown, semi furry looking imature fertile fronds in front of a non-fertile frond

Blechnum chambersii was not seen, getting to it requires gum-boots, a slippery walk and preparedness to get dirty and possibly wet - one has to get off the track and cross the creek where one is not supposed to.

What an interesting thread! Thank you for posting it and all of the great information.

When I saw the topic I thought that Worth was posting about his backyard.

Filmy Ferns, The fronds of these ferns are only one or two cells thick, they always occur in the gullies and reach there best development over in New Zealand, head south to see these at there biggest and best. Four species occur in the park, representing two genera.

Polyphlebium venosum, the most common filmy in the park occurs deep in the gullies, always on Dicksonia tree ferns.
Mostly P. Venosum here, with a plant of H. flabellatum and one or two other ferns. P. venosum fighting through new roots on a Dicksonia An example of how a fully established P. venosum looks on a large Dicksonia trunk, from a distance it looks like moss and can cover a length of over 10 feet on some of the really big tree ferns

Hymenophyllum flabellatum is the least common filmy in the park, it also occurs in the deep gullies on Dicksonia tree ferns, generally in association with P. venosum (above) or H. australe (below). H. flabellatum is the largest filmy in the park.

Hymenophyllum australe is more common than H. flabellatum, but not as common as H. cupressiforme.
A small species, with fronds about 2 inches long. In the top photo, the dark blobs on the fronds are spore packets.

Hymenophyllum cupressiforme is the smallest, toughest and most common of the filmies, does not have to occur in the gullies on tree ferns, but can occur on other trees with moisture holding barks out of the deep gullies.

Ground Ferns

Several species of ground growing fern occur within the park,

Polystichum proliferum or Mother Shield Fern, a tough fern of the open glades which produces babies on the ends of its fronds as well as spore
Hypolepis rugulosa or Ruddy ground Fern
Histiopteris incisia or Bats Wing Fern
Thew dried fern around the mother shield in the second photo is common bracken, of which it appears I did not get a decent photoo

Other epiphytic ferns

Epiphytes occur on other living things, generally trees and pretty much always in humid environments, typically rainforest of one type or another.

Asplenium bulbiferum ssp gracillimum or Mother spleenwort, generally found low down on tree ferns, Dicksonia antartica always.
Showing whole plant
Showing spore arrangement, very important when identifying fern species
With baby attached

Rumohra adiantiformis or leather fern, a thick leaved epiphytic fern, often cultivated and used in floral arrangements here. often starts low down on a Dicksonia before climbing upto the crown and growing luxuriantly there.
growing up a tree fern trunk
Spore arrangement
Young plant low down

MIcrosourm pustulatum or Kangaroo fern

Very vigorous, even rampant grower of the low to middle gullies on tree ferns or trees with moisture retentive barks
Showing Spore pattern Showing growth on tree alongside track Showing spore pattern young plants with Polyphlebium venosum on Dicksonis antartica

Clubmoss

Selaginella kraussiana is introduced into Oz, but does well where the environment suits it.

Ferns not seen,

about a quarter of the ferns that occur in the park were not seen this day, mostly because they require getting off the beaten track as mention above or occur in a different environment than what we were mainly walking through. A listing of these

Asplenium flabellifolium or Necklace fern
Calochleana dubia or false bracked
Blechnum Chambersii or lance water fern
Cyathea x marcescens or Skirted tree fern (very dubious of this record)
Diplazium australe or Austral Lady fern
Hypolepis muellerii or Harsh Ground Fern
Lastreopsis acuminata or Shiney Shield Fern

A few native plants

Fieldia australis
Grows as an epiphyte on the Dicksonia down in the deeper gullies or south facing slopes. Was at end of flowering season

Sassafras flowers
Off the bridge over the gully

Bush tomato or Solaneum aviculare

Growing alongside the track, not flowering or in fruit. Some native Solanums can be eaten, but you need to be really sure of you identification as very similar looking plants can be toxic

And lastly some general shots of the park
The bridge from which several shots above and below were taken
Looking from bridge into gully
A little orange fungi, typus unknownus

MissS wrote: ↑Sun Aug 16, 2020 11:33 am What an interesting thread! Thank you for posting it and all of the great information.

When I saw the topic I thought that Worth was posting about his backyard.

Glad you like it [mention]MissS[/mention] , complete now, understand re: Worths backyard but this is probably a tad larger

What about snakes???
Looks like snake country.

During Summer undoubtedly there would be tigers, copperheads and or red-bellied blacks about. But if you make enough noise/vibration they generally move out of the way. This time of year most are hibernating. September/October would be highest risk time as they come out of hibernation hungry, sleepy and randy, thus tend to be a bit more aggressive than normal. Most of our snakes would prefer to retreat rather than attack a human, so you just back out of their way and let them go. No big deal.

This why I carry a long walking stick when out in the woods or if I pick berries.
Not to kill them but to poke in the bushes.
Had one come in the house one time.
My wife opens the door and it came right in.
Harmless hog nose snake.

No harmless snakes here, just variations in level of poisonous. It is said that the Red bellied blacks consider the Tigers a tasty snack and it is best to try to not to kill them. Just need to be careful and checkout logs before stepping over them etc

Never dreamed of such diversity of ferns in Australia... awesome! Is it really a Mountain Ash forest, Whwoz? We have Mountain Ash here ( Sorbus aucuparia and another whose sp name I've forgotten). They are rather small trees, but I imagine in Oz you would have a larger variant to hold its own amongst the tall forest. ?

Truly a magnificent place. I am amazed at the beauty and diversity of the flora and fauna.

[mention]Bower[/mention] fern diversity here is very dependent upon rainfall, the east coast has the highest diversity, particularly the wet tropics with numbers per given area dropping as you head south then West across southern Victoria with a few in South West Water and reasonable diversity in Tasmania.

As for the mountain ash, our species is Eucalyptus regnans, the tallest tree in the world - the largest one ever was measured at over 400 feet when cut down. It was growing on the same Hills to the South East of us rather than the South West. This species forms the canopy on a lot of our high country.

One thing that this site has shown me [mentionare ]MissS[/mention] is that things are rarely as the stereotypes show us.