Friends
of Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens
Fern Detective
The Fern Glade is home to a large number of our south-east Qld ferns.
Below is a set of information sheets. Each sheet illustrates features of the fern you would expect to see with the naked eye or a lens.
Can you use these to identify some of our ferns?
Recognising Native Ferns in the Field
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Asplenium australasicum (Bird's Nest Fern)
Blechnum nudum (Fishbone Water Fern)
Davallia pyxidata (Haresfoot Fern)
Doodia aspera (Prickley Rasp Fern)
Platycerium bifurcatum (Elkhorn)
Platycerium superbum (Staghorn)
The Ferns Project is an ongoing project led by Friends' member Wendy Johnston, with contributions and advice from members of the Queensland chapter of the ANPSA* Fern Study Group.
Wendy and her husband Dan have spent many years developing the Fern collection we have in the gardens, a very valuable and much appreciated contribution. Our bioregion has over 160 indigenous fern species, but we know we still have quite a way to go to have a complete collection. But Dan, Wendy and the Friends are working on it!
The focus of the Fern Project is the development of a set of information sheets designed to aid the recognition of indigenous ferns in the field. Each sheet illustrates features of the fern you would expect to see with the naked eye or a lens. It is not a definitive key. Features visible in the field that may distinguish a fern from a similar fern are illustrated where possible.
*ANPSA: Australian Native Plant Society (Australia)