The Collaborative International Dictionary
Dicksonia \Dicksonia\ prop. n. A genus of tree ferns of temperate Australasia having bipinnatifid or tripinnatifid fronds and usually marginal sori; in some classification systems it is placed in the family Cyatheaceae.
Syn: genus Dicksonia.
Wikipedia
Dicksonia is a genus of tree ferns in the order Cyatheales. It is regarded as related to Cyathea, but is considered more primitive, dating back at least to the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossil record includes stems, pinnules, and spores.
The genus contains 20-25 species, distributed from Mexico to Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, St. Helena, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, and the Philippines. New Guinea has the greatest diversity, with five species.
An easily cultivated species of Dicksonia is D. antarctica, the soft tree fern.
The genus was first described by Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle in 1788. The name honors James Dickson, a prominent nurseryman and botanist.
Usage examples of "dicksonia".
When he came back he bore with him beautiful bunches of ferns of many kinds-Hymenophyllum and Asplenium, portions of the fronds of the Dicksonia, the Adiantum, the Alsophila, excelsa, the Umbrella fern, the Acrostichurn and others.