The Australian tree fern grows a slender, fibrous trunk crowned with wide, lacy fronds, a genuinely prehistoric look scaled down to a pot. In its rainforest home it becomes a tree; indoors it stays a manageable, dramatic foliage plant that reads like living sculpture.

Give it bright, indirect light and never let it dry out completely; consistent moisture and humidity are the whole game. Mist the fronds and the fibrous trunk, or park it near a humidifier. In Birmingham it can summer outside on a shaded porch, then come back in before nights turn cold.