Platycerium ridleyi

Platycerium ridleyi Christ is an accepted naturally occurring species in Polypodiaceae, not a cultivar, hybrid, or horticultural selection.

Hermann Christ published P. ridleyi in 1909 in Annales du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg, Supplement 3(1), page 8, plate 2; the type is Ridley SF 10830 from Singapore.

The epithet ridleyi honors Henry Nicholas Ridley, who discovered and collected the plant at Bukit Timah in Singapore.

The accepted native range extends from peninsular Thailand through western Malesia, including Malaya, Sumatra, and Borneo; Singapore was historically native.

Sterile fronds are rounded to kidney-shaped, strongly corrugated and reticulately veined, and overlap to form an enclosed chamber around the roots that is often occupied by ants.

Fertile fronds are stiff, leathery, ascending, and repeatedly forked, with distinct obovate or elliptical spore-bearing lobes rather than spores spread along the narrow antler divisions.

P. ridleyi is a solitary species and does not normally reproduce by root pups or divisible offsets.

P. ridleyi produces viable spores and has been successfully raised through aseptic spore and gametophyte culture.

Clonal in-vitro regeneration of P. ridleyi from sporophyte tissues is scientifically documented.

P. ridleyi is assessed as Nationally Extinct in Singapore.

Wild Platycerium ridleyi can grow on ant ferns and enclose them with its shield fronds.