These ferns may be the first plants known to share work like ants
The plants may form a type of communal lifestyle never seen outside of the animal kingdom
Many of this fern colony’s fan-shaped nest fronds (growing closer to the tree trunk) are sterile, while the thinner strap fronds (sticking up and out from between the nest fronds) lift more of the reproductive load for the colony.
Ian Hutton
High in the forest canopy, a mass of strange ferns grips a tree trunk, looking like a giant tangle of floppy, viridescent antlers.