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WPS-P-000038Named SelectionAccepted record

P. willinckii ‘Pearl Queen’

plat-ee-SIR-ee-um wil-LINK-ee-eye PURL KWEEN

Also recorded as: Pearl Queen · 珍珠皇后 All names

Cultivated Platycerium willinckii ‘Pearl Queen’, showing the tall layered shield crown and broad pale fertile fronds that create its flowing mature form.

Mature · September 20, 2026 · Photo: Johnny Lee · © World Platycerium Society · All rights reserved

The most useful recognition guide is the combination of a high layered crown, broad and substantial fertile fronds, and a dense pearly-white covering. The natural white hairs should not be rubbed away. Appearance alone cannot confirm the original selection because age and… Read full description

Reported origin
Taiwan Details

Care

Care difficulty: Beginner

Pearl Queen is generally easy to grow and tolerates summer heat well. Leave space below and around the mount for its broad, hanging fronds.

Light and airflow

Give it bright filtered daylight, such as a bright window with strong sun softened by a sheer curtain. Keep air moving around the crown and mount.

Handling

Do not wipe or rub the pearly-white hairs off the fronds; damaged patches do not regrow. Move the plant by its mount and keep the fronds from brushing against nearby surfaces.

Description

Growth habit

A full-sized P. willinckii selection that develops a tall crown of overlapping shield fronds and broad fertile fronds that arch or hang outward. Mature plants can form a wide, flowing outline. Light, maturity, watering, and available growing space can change how upright or drooping the fronds appear.

Shield fronds

The shield fronds build upward in overlapping layers, producing a tall, full crown. They are pale green to silver and can appear softly velvety because of their natural covering of fine hairs. The height and depth of the crown become more obvious as the plant matures.

Fertile fronds

The fertile fronds are broad, thick, and pale silver-white, with a soft-looking surface created by dense natural hairs. Mature fronds divide into substantial ribbon-like sections that spread, overlap, and often droop, creating a layered butterfly or evening-gown shape.

Distinguishing characteristics

The most useful recognition guide is the combination of a high layered crown, broad and substantial fertile fronds, and a dense pearly-white covering. The natural white hairs should not be rubbed away. Appearance alone cannot confirm the original selection because age and growing conditions affect color and posture; reliable source history remains important.

Classification

Genus

Platycerium

Names and usage

Pearl QueenPreferred display

Trade name · English

珍珠皇后

Translated name · Traditional Chinese

パールクイーン

Romanized name · Japanese

Origin & history

Reported originTaiwan · Alan’s Fern, Tamsui, Taiwan

Highlighted: Taiwan

Pearl Queen is a Taiwanese named selection of P. willinckii raised, selected, and named by Alan Lin of Alan’s Fern, a specialist staghorn-fern nursery in Tamsui. Sabrina Wang of Haruhana, the neighboring Platycerium nursery, relayed that Alan personally told her he raised the plant, chose it as a named selection, and gave it the name Pearl Queen. A 2023 grower video documents Pearl Queen at Alan’s Fern, and the Japanese specialist nursery Frontier Plants also describes it as released by Alan’s Fern.

First known year

2023

Name origin

Alan Lin named the selection Pearl Queen. 珍珠皇后 is the equivalent Traditional Chinese name used in Taiwan. Nursery descriptions connect the name with the plant’s dense pearly-white surface and broad fronds that hang in layered folds like a queen’s evening gown.

People and organizations

Originator

Alan Lin

Alan Lin raised the plant that became Pearl Queen. The available account does not yet document its parentage or the exact starting material.

Selector

Alan Lin

Alan Lin selected the individual that became Pearl Queen.

Namer

Alan Lin

Alan Lin gave the selected plant the name Pearl Queen.

Introducer

Alan’s Fern

Pearl Queen was publicly documented at Alan’s Fern in 2023, and Frontier Plants describes it as released by Alan’s Fern.

Supporting photographs

Close view of a developing Pearl Queen fertile frond, showing its broad rounded tip, dense silver-white surface covering, and early terminal divisions.

Fertile frond · September 20, 2026 · Photo: Johnny Lee · © World Platycerium Society · All rights reserved

Low-angle view of Pearl Queen’s mature fertile fronds, documenting their broad bases, repeated divisions, hanging lobes, and dense silvery covering.

Fertile frond · September 20, 2026 · Photo: Johnny Lee · © World Platycerium Society · All rights reserved

Lineage & species

Propagation

  • Produces fertile spores
  • Produces pups / vegetative offspring
  • Tissue culture documented
A pup from an authenticated Pearl Queen mother plant continues that mother clone. Plants raised from Pearl Queen spores are genetically new offspring and should be labeled Pearl Queen sporelings or Pearl Queen offspring, not represented as the original selected clone. Plants sold as Pearl Queen tissue culture are present in the trade, but the available listings do not identify the laboratory source or prove that each batch was started from the original clone. Tissue-culture identity should therefore be checked through the seller’s source history.

Documented claims

Historical and factual accounts shown with their review status and supporting sources.

Naming

Alan Lin named the selection Pearl Queen

Documented

Alan Lin gave the selected plant the name Pearl Queen. 珍珠皇后 is the equivalent Traditional Chinese name used in Taiwan.

Supports · P. willinckii Pearl Queen OC ↗︎Supports · Information from Sabrina Wang concerning P. willinckii ‘Pearl Queen’

Sources

  1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

    Platycerium willinckii T.Moore ↗︎Date not established
  2. Frontier Plants

    P. willinckii Pearl Queen ↗︎Date not established
  3. Haruhana / 晴花鹿苑

    P. willinckii Pearl Queen OC ↗︎Date not established
  4. 便與植作人

    神獸鹿角蕨們介紹:鹿角蕨大神辣椒王(下) ↗︎2023
  5. 黃梅琴; 謝隆証

    珍珠皇后亮相台灣植物展 ↗︎2024
  6. 黃仕傑

    鹿角蕨日記簿:栽培與觀賞 ↗︎2025
  7. Haruhana USA

    P. willinckii Pearl Queen — offset from mother plant ↗︎Date not established
  8. Haruhana USA

    P. willinckii Pearl Queen sporeling ↗︎Date not established
  9. Yahoo! Auctions Japan mirror via Letao

    Frontier Plants P. willinckii Pearl Queen tissue-culture plant ↗︎2026
  10. M&B Flora

    JIH Platycerium catalog ↗︎Date not established
  11. Johnny Lee

    Information from Sabrina Wang concerning P. willinckii ‘Pearl Queen’2026

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P. willinckii ‘Pearl Queen’

Cultivated Platycerium willinckii ‘Pearl Queen’, showing the tall layered shield crown and broad pale fertile fronds that create its flowing mature form.

Mature · September 20, 2026 · Photo: Johnny Lee · © World Platycerium Society · All rights reserved

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