Platycerium veitchii

Choose an open, well-ventilated position where air can move around the fronds, rather than an enclosed, humid corner. High humidity combined with poor airflow can lead to a sudden decline in plant condition.

It handles cool weather well, but protect it from frost. It may stop growing in summer heat and start growing again when the weather cools.

The fronds are easily damaged. When moving or remounting the plant, avoid bending, pressing, or catching them against nearby objects.

A colony-forming silver staghorn that grows mainly on boulders, scree, and cliffs in seasonally dry vine forest. It occasionally grows on trees or exposed roots. Colonies spread through root-produced growing points. Dense pale hairs and narrow fronds help it tolerate bright, seasonally dry conditions.

Shield fronds are rounded to kidney-shaped at the base and approximately 20–45 cm (8–18 in) long by 8–15 cm (3–6 in) wide. Their upper edge is usually cut very deeply into narrow upright fingers, which may fork again and reach about 20 cm (8 in) long. Older shields commonly dry to grey or muted pink-grey. Cultivated plants do not always develop the extremely narrow shield fingers seen in exposed wild plants.

Narrow fertile fronds usually grow stiffly upright, though some spread or hang slightly. They measure about 4.5–72 cm (2–28 in), sometimes longer, and divide into 1–8 narrow terminal lobes. Dense white star-shaped hairs cover the underside and can hide the veins. Spore patches cover much of the underside of mature terminal segments, often nearly to the tips.

Recognize P. veitchii by its colony-forming habit, dense silver-white hairs, narrow upright fertile fronds, and shield crown divided into long, thin fingers. P. bifurcatum is usually greener and less densely hairy, while P. hillii has rounder shields and broader fertile-frond segments. P. superbum is solitary and much larger. Identify mature plants by the combination of traits, as young plants can look similar.

1905

Lucien Marcus Underwood first published the species as Alcicornium veitchii in 1905. Carl Christensen transferred it to Platycerium in 1906. The epithet veitchii honors English nurseryman James Veitch, who introduced the plant into cultivation in England. A 1982 monograph treated it as a subspecies of P. bifurcatum, but current Kew and Australian botanical sources accept P. veitchii as a separate species.