Propagation
Place spores on sterilised sphagnum or peat moss then cover with glass and keep moist for 4 to 6 weeks maintaining a temperature of 16º C (61º F) with indirect light. Cleanliness is essential during the propagation process.
Transplant established plants or divide the rhizome when dorment and keep moist. Plant out in situ with spacing from 600 mm (2 ft) to 900 mm (3 ft).
Note:
Care should be taken when selecting a site as under ideal conditions the plant grows and spreads rapidly and may become a weed. The underground runners can extend to 600 mm (2 ft) or more from the parent plant.
Botanic information
Leaf: The herbaceous bright to dark green 2-pinnatifid sterile fronds are up to 1.7 m (5 ft) tall and taper quickly towards the apex forming an elliptical outline. The petiole is up to 340 mm (14 in) long. The shorter dark brown fertile fronds are pinnate-pinnatifid and are up to 300 mm (1 ft) tall or more and have linear pinnae with strongly recurved margins. They appear in a cluster in the centre of the sterile fronds.
Flower: The rounded sori are arranged in 1-row between the mid-rib and the margin on the underside of the fertile fronds pinnae and covered by the hardened revolute margin. They appear during in early autumn and persist on the plant during winter then released the spores in the spring.
Fruit: The rounded sori are arranged in a single row on the underside of the fertile fronds and released spores during late summer. The spores are very small (like fine dust) and are released from the sori when mature.The spores are viable but the plant is commonly reproduced vegetatively.
Note:
The young crozier are harvested and cooked as a vegetable.
The spores are produced in the sporangium during the sporophyte stage of the fern life cycle in rows on the back of the fertile frond.