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Story: Ferns and lycophytes

Fork fern

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Fork fern

Tmesipteris tannensis is the most common of New Zealand’s four species of fork fern. Fork ferns usually grow as epiphytes, often on the trunks of tree ferns. Unlike most ferns, they lack roots, have leathery leaves, and produce pairs of spore-bearing capsules on the upper margin of their leaves.

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The Hidden Forest

by Clive Shirley

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How to cite this page

Patrick Brownsey, Ferns and lycophytes – Land of ferns, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/10853/fork-fern (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Patrick Brownsey, published 1 March 2009.