Species library › Platycerium › Platycerium angolense
Ferns Partly documented

Platycerium angolense

A tropical African staghorn fern with broad, undivided, elephant-ear-like fertile fronds. Many treatments, including Wikipedia's species list, sink it into P. elephantotis, and plants sold under either name are usually the same thing. The records span West, Central and East Africa, in warm, seasonally dry climates.

Platycerium angolense
Photo: bayanga85, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Bright, filtered lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

An epiphyte on trees in tropical African woodland and forest edges; species-specific notes were not available, so this follows P. elephantotis.

Recorded elevations are 10–1000 m, median about 560 m.

GuineaSenegalIvory CoastTogoGhanaGabonUgandaBurundi

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

Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 2.0 licence, unmodified.