If you have a greenhouse or a cool enclosed porch and would like to grow something unusual, a true conversation piece, you should buy a staghorn fern.
Platycerium: Native in Tropical Countries
This genus, Platycerium, is native to tropical Africa, Asia, and temperate Australia.
These ferns have leaves (called fronds) of two kinds: sterile clasping ones which usually arc rounded in outline, and fertile ones which are forked like the antlers of the European reindeer.
It is on these fertile, forked fronds (which in some species are held erect and in others are drooping) that the spores are produced.
Clusters of Spores
The sort or clusters of spores are formed in masses on the underside of the frond, usually towards the tips of the lobes. These spores, of course, are the reproductive bodies.
The sterile fronds also have important functions. They are at first green and succulent but ultimately they lose their moisture and become cinnamon-colored and parchment-like.
Usual Function of Green Leaves
In their early stage, in addition to performing the usual function of green leaves, they help to attach the plant to its support.
Later the usually flaring tops hold leaves and other debris which have fallen from the trees above and which ultimately decay and form humus from which the roots of the fern collect nutrients.
Planting Staghorn Ferns
The usual practice is to plant staghorn ferns in osmunda fiber (fern roots) in a hanging basket or in fiber wired to a piece of decay-resisting wood such as cypress.
Subsequent treatment consists of shading the plant from bright sunlight; syringing it daily during sunny periods (and less frequently in winter) so as to keep the fiber moist; and once a year filling flaky leafmold behind the sterile fronds.
The common staghorn-fern pictured below is Piatyceriton bifurcation (alcicorne). This species is perhaps the best one for the beginner, especially if he is running a cool greenhouse. It is easy to grow, enduring temperatures to 45°.
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