Sphaeropteris lepifera

Sphaeropteris lepifera, synonym Cyathea lepifera, the brush pot tree (Chinese: 筆筒樹; pinyin: bǐtǒng shù), is a tree fern that grows in the mountains of East and Southeast Asia, which can grow up to 20 feet (6.1 m) tall.^[1] While the tree fern lineage dates back to the Jurassic, the crown group Sphaeropteris can be traced back to the Cretaceous, around 90 million years ago.^[2][3]

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  Bud
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  The fern cooked in plum sauce
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  Leaf scars on the trunk of S. lepifera
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  Crown of S. lepifera

Sphaeropteris lepifera
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Division:	Polypodiophyta
Class:	Polypodiopsida
Order:	Cyatheales
Family:	Cyatheaceae
Genus:	Sphaeropteris
Species:	S. lepifera
Binomial name
Sphaeropteris lepifera (J.Sm. ex Hooker.) R.M.Tryon
Synonyms
Alsophila calocoma Christ Alsophila lepifera J.Sm. ex Hook. Alsophila pustulosa Christ Cyathea calocoma Copel. Cyathea lepifera (J.Sm. ex Hook.) Copel. Cyathea pteridioides Copel. Cyathea pustulosa Copel. Cyathea umbrosa Copel.