Ferns can have hairs, scales, both, or neither. Hairs on ferns are about as wide as those of mammals. Fern scales are wider than a hair, and often triangular. Koru, or the unfurling new fronds of ferns, are often densely covered in hairs or scales; perhaps they afford mechanical protection. This is a koru of a hen & chickens fern, Asplenium bulbiferum, which is a reasonably closely related to the new species. Photo © Leon Perrie.