Height 0.75m
Spread 0.75m

This fern has a fascinating history. DNA and chromosome analysis have shown that it is this hybrid between 2 different species from 2 different countries, 1500 km apart!

Ferns have a 2 stage life cycle. When a spore from a mature fern lands in a damp spot, it grows into a tiny (about the size of a little finger nail),  1 cell thick, green leaf called a prothallus. On the underside of the prothallus are little bodies - some produce sperm and others have an egg. The sperm can swim in the moisture and reach another nearby prothallus where they fertilise an egg. The egg grows slowly into the typical big fern we know. All ferns do this.

Now the sperm can't swim in the sea. They only go about a centimetre, not 1500 km. So at some stage, a prothallus from the NZ species must have been very close to a prothallus from the Norfolk species, allowing the sperm from 1 to fertilised an egg from the other to form the hybrid. It seems most likely this happened around 1831 when Captain Cook's ship visited both NZ and Norfolk. There was a botanist on board and we know he collected living plants from both places. It is likely they would be stored in a glass terrarium to keep them alive. Maybe the hybrid happened on the return trip or when they were kept alive back in England, but it did happen. 

The resulting hybrid grows so well and looks so good it has made huge sales ever since - very lucrative. So now it is officially known as Asplenium xlucrosum. The x means a cross (hybrid). Lucrosum refers to the money it has made!