Staghorn Fern

Staghorn Fern

Staghorn Fern Platycerium is a tropical fern that grows on other plants and is therefore known as an epiphyte. It has two kinds of leaves which give it a strange unfernlike appearance. One type of leaf is like a long forking strap and this gives the plant its common name. Other "mantle" leaves are flat and pressed against the tree on which the fern is growing. Water and organic matter collect in cavities and roots grow from the fern into this source of nutrients. Spores develop on the underside of the mantle leaves. [CH] {EN}