Platycerium superbum | |
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Staghorn fern at North Coast Regional Botanic Garden, Australia | |
Scientific classification
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Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Division: | Polypodiophyta |
Class: | Polypodiopsida |
Order: | Polypodiales |
Suborder: | Polypodiineae |
Family: | Polypodiaceae |
Genus: | Platycerium |
Species: | P. superbum
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Binomial name | |
Platycerium superbum de Jonch. & Hennipman
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Platycerium superbum, commonly known as the staghorn fern, is a Platycerium species of fern. It is native to Australia.
The fern is native to north-east New South Wales (north of Nabiac) and Queensland. [1] It can also be found in parts of Indonesia, Malaysia [2] and New Guinea. [3] In propagated form, the plant is grown successfully as far south as Victoria. [4]
During the 1990s, the fern was also discovered on the Hawaiian Islands where they are now considered a "problem species". [5]
Platycerium superbum is a bracket epiphyte naturally occurring in and near rainforests but is now also widely cultivated as an ornamental plant for gardens.
In both naturally occurring and propagated forms, these ferns develop a humus-collecting "nest" of non-fertile fronds and in doing so can grow up to 1 metre wide. The ferns also develop hanging fertile fronds that can reach up to 2 metres long. [2]
Both fertile and non-fertile fronds are broad and branching and grown to resemble the horns of a stag or elk, thus the common names stag horn or elk horn. [2]
The plant gives off many tiny spores that drift to nearby trees to reproduce. [3]
In the wild, the nest structure captures falling leaves and other detritus which then decomposes to provide the plant with nutrients. [4] The ferns are known to favour a slightly acidic environment and so to encourage growth in propagated plants, some growers recommend adding used tea leaves directly to the plant's "nest". [2] Others recommend doing the same with banana peel. [6]