Plants as textiles

On a trip to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, I was fascinated by this coiled up fern in the Bicentennial Conservatory.  I only saw it because a large group of students came walking along the raised boardwalk where I was trying to photograph a turtle in the pond below; to wait until they had gone past, I walked to the other side of the boardwalk and looked at the tall ferns, and was captivated by the texture on this; it reminds me so much of rope or twine or yarn, plaited or knotted, and rolled up inside a strip of polar fleece!

coiled up fern

©Christine Linton