Alsophila grevilleana

Alsophila grevilleana, synonym Cyathea grevilleana,[1] is a species of tree fern endemic to Jamaica, where it grows in moist gullies and on wooded hills in both calcareous and noncalcareous soils at an altitude of 200–1200 m. The trunk of this plant is erect, about 7 m tall, and 10–15 cm in diameter.

It is characteristically clothed in old stipe bases, brown scales and blackish spines.

[2] A. grevilleana forms part of the complex centered on Alsophila woodwardioides comprising six very similar taxa from the Greater Antilles.

Large and Braggins (2004) note that this group is known to cross with members of the Alsophila minor complex.

[2] The specific epithet grevilleana commemorates Robert Kaye Greville (1794-1866), who collected the type specimen in Jamaica in 1832.