Species library › Platycerium › Platycerium madagascariense
Ferns Well documented

Platycerium madagascariense

A small Madagascan staghorn fern with short, fan-shaped fertile fronds and ribbed, waffle-textured shield fronds. It grows in humid mid-elevation forest of eastern Madagascar and is known in cultivation as one of the fussier species: it wants constant humidity, good air and cool-ish nights.

Platycerium madagascariense
Photo: Chad Wunderlich, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Humid airBand in Plantistry
Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

Epiphyte on trunks and branches in humid evergreen forest of eastern Madagascar.

Recorded at 430-1100 m, median 720 m (14 records).

Madagascar

🔒 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 madagascariense? 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 3.0 licence, unmodified.