Bartlett's rātā grows to a height of up to thirty metres, usually beginning life as a hemi-epiphyte on taraire (Beilschmiedia tarairi), pūriri (Vitex lucens), rewarewa (Knightia excelsa) or tree ferns (Cyathea spp.).
It was accidentally introduced to Kew in 1853 in material surrounding trunks of tree ferns sent from Natal by Captain Garden.
Cyathea | Cyathea kermadecensis | Cyathea elongata | Cyathea dealbata | Cyathea cuspidata |
Cyathea alderwereltii is a species of tree fern endemic to Mount Sago in central Sumatra, where it is nevertheless abundant and grows in forest at an altitude of 1000-1500 m.
Cyathea excavata is a species of tree fern endemic to the Cameron Highlands in Peninsular Malaysia, where it grows in habitats ranging from forest, streamsides, clearings and open grassy areas at an altitude of approximately 1800 m.
Large and Braggins (2004) note that the holotype of C. humilis is "almost certainly a juvenile of Cyathea stuhlmannii", a taxon also described by Hieronymus.
Above 3,000 metres elevation, the high mountain forest yields to remote sub-alpine habitats including alpine meadows, conifer forest, tree-fern (Cyathea) grasslands, bogs, and shrubby heaths of Rhododendron, Vaccinium, Coprosma, Rapanea, and Saurauia all quite different from the tropical rain forest that covers most of New Guinea.