Do the trunks of ferns widen as the plant ages?
You know how tree trunks grow rings, making the tree wider as it gets older, do ferns do that too? Ferns with trunks that is, like crown ferns
You know how tree trunks grow rings, making the tree wider as it gets older, do ferns do that too? Ferns with trunks that is, like crown ferns
Andrew T
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The trunks do get wider, but it's a different process than the typical secondary growth we see in dicots and gymnosperms (monocots also lack secondary growth; those with trunks, such as palms, have yet another process for widening the trunk).
For tree ferns, the "trunk" is basically a mass of roots that have been fused together. For the trunk to widen, new roots are formed and added to the mass.