NOTE - THIS PROTO-PAGE IS STILL IN THE EARLY STAGES OF CONSTRUCTION!

This very sturdy tree fern grows natively from the Bay of Plenty and Waikato south. It was especially valuable up until the early nineteenth century as the source of rat-proof lining for pätaka kai (food-storage houses). The trunk proper is relatively slender, but it is covered with a thick layer of densely matted aerial roots. The mature tree reaches a height of about six metres, about the same as its close relative, the wheki, but shorter than some of the other New Zealand tree ferns like the mamaku, Cyathea medullaris, which reaches heights of 15 metres or more. It is found in open scrubland, forest margins and sometimes in forest interiors, and its appearance is much less affected by sun and wind than most other tree ferns. It is a very versatile plant, which seems to grow well both in the interior of swampy forests and on exposed hillsides.

Like the other Dicksonias, the stipes (stems) of the fronds are hairy (unlike the other set of New Zealand tree ferns, the Cyatheas, which have small scales covering the stipes). The dead fronds generally hang on to the trunk for years, so the green crown on mature trees can have quite a long, thick skirt of dry fronds below it. This has the advantage of preventing epiphytic plants from attaching themselves to the upper part of the trunk of a growing tree.

Because the visible "trunk" is actually a very thick blanket of aerial roots, when the fronds do fall off or are removed, the lower parts of the stipes do not persist as a sheath covering the trunk, as they do in the wheki. The bare "trunk" is a favourite medium for horticulturalists needing suitable material to use for attaching some epiphytic species of orchids and bromeliads. In recent years the trunks of the whekï-ponga have also become a favourite medium for garden sculptures.

It is interesting to note that despite the continued utility and economic importance of the wheki-ponga as a horticultural plant, medium for art work, and source of fibre for specialist growing media etc., there is very little detailed information about this species on the web, and most references in the literature are rather cursory. It seems to be one of those plants whose value is implictly recognized but seldom attracts explicit attention!