This species comes from cool highland rainforests in Queensland and Australia, and is somewhat resemblant of D. squarrosa, perhaps even a bit cold-hardier than D. squarrosa according to one source.  It, like D. squarrosa, sends up suckers to form multiple trunks as high as 12'.  Unfortunately the trunks can sometimes be weak and have an inclination to deteriorate.  The fronds are a glossy, deep, bright green; and coarse, brittle reddish hairs densely cover the stipes and croziers.

Dicksonia youngiae is not particularly heat tolerant and needs shelter from wind.  Another potential problem is that it may tend to produce fronds in the winter which are left exposed to damage before they mature; however, its growth cycle may change entirely if brought into a cool enough climate.  Being a heat-intolerant species in an overall rather hot part of the world, its presence and isolation so far north in Queensland is somewhat of a mystery, and clearly it would not have survived if it had not been able to retreat into the cool highlands and find its niche there.