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Species library › Asplenium › Asplenium africanum
Ferns Well documented

Asplenium africanum

A widespread spleenwort of the lowland rainforests of West and Central Africa, described by Desvaux in 1811. It grows mainly as an epiphyte on tree trunks in warm, humid forest. It needs constant warmth, high humidity and shade.

At home, aim for
Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Humid airBand in Plantistry
Light ShadeDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

It grows in lowland and lower montane rainforest from Guinea and Liberia to Gabon, Cameroon and east to Uganda. Its many herbarium records, largely from Gabon and Cameroon, point to an epiphytic fern of trunks and branches in shaded forest, sometimes on mossy rocks.

Records run from 2 to 1600 m, with a median of 470 m.

West Tropical AfricaWest-Central Tropical AfricaEast Tropical AfricaAngola

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

Grow Asplenium africanum? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app.