Species · genus Platycerium · Polypodiaceae

Elkhorn Fern

Platycerium bifurcatum (Cav.) C.Chr.

Also known as: Common Staghorn Fern · Staghorn Fern

Growth habit

epiphyte

Native range

Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., New Caledonia, New South Wales, Norfolk Is., Queensland, Sulawesi

Reference · P. bifurcatum

Cultivars of P. bifurcatum

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under P. bifurcatum yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

An epiphytic staghorn fern from humid forests of Australia and the western Pacific, where it grows mounted on bark rather than in soil. Its roots want airflow and drain fast, so they rot if kept wet; water when the mounting medium or root mass feels dry to the touch and has lost most of its weight, then let it approach dryness again. Give it warmth, bright indirect light, and good air movement rather than direct sun.

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-14d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 14 days

Humidity

High

Temperature

15–27 °C

Soil mix

Epiphytic mount or loose bark and sphagnum mix

Propagation

Division of offsets (pups) from the clump

Fertilizing

Dilute feed monthly in the growing season, applied to the fronds

Growth rate

Moderate

Flowering

Non-flowering fern; reproduces by spores on the fronds

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Not yet documented

This is where toxicity lives — every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

No reference gallery yet

A few clear photos — habit, a mature leaf, a flower if it blooms — would give this page its eyes.

Add images

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-14d) · ai:claude-fable-5

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Elkhorn Fern yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — is exactly what keeps this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.