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How do staghorns form colonies?

July 4, 2002

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The elkhorn or staghorn ferns (Platycerium spp. Desvaux) are epiphytes, adapted to life on the surface of trees. There are only eighteen known species widely scattered in the Southern Hemisphere: three species in Africa, four in Madagascar, four in Australia and surrounding Islands, six in Southeast Asia, and a single species from the Andes in South America.

Staghorns have two types of fronds--sterile and fertile. The sterile or basal frond forms a shield appressed to the bark or surface the fern is growing on. It serves to protect the roots, hold moisture, and trap falling leaves and other debris. The decay of the debris provides nutrients. These fronds die in time becoming brown and papery. New shields grow over the old and roots fill the spaces between shields.

The fertile fronds are wide, usually lobed, and arch away from the shields. Spores are borne on the lobes near the tips of the leaves. The generic name, Platycerium, means "broad horn" and derives from the appearance of these fronds. They are leathery and more or less covered with scales that make the fronds "felty" to the touch. The scales are believed to slow the loss of water due to evaporation.

Staghorns form colonies, new plants grow from the tips of the roots. A new plant forms when a root grows to a point where it 'touches' air. Grown in a hanging basket, the staghorn will clone itself until basal fronds form a globe covering the pot.

Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodges have photographs of a staghorns in their native habitat. To view the photographs, click on the link:

http://rainforest-australia.com/additional_Staghorn_Fern_photos.htm