Platycerium coronarium

Give it bright, filtered daylight, such as near a bright window with strong sun softened by a sheer curtain. A grow light can help if daylight is limited.

Keep it in a warm spot through winter, away from cold drafts and dry heating vents. It struggles with cold, dry conditions.

A very large colony-forming fern that grows on trunks and branches in tropical lowland forest, mangroves, plantations, and disturbed habitats. Most records are below 500 m, with some approaching 1,000 m. Its shield basket traps leaf litter and stores moisture around the roots. Colonies expand through rhizome branches rather than root-produced pups.

The sterile shield or nest fronds are broad, fan-shaped, and approximately 40–110 cm (16–43 in) long by 25–55 cm (10–22 in) wide. Their bases are thick and fleshy, while their upper portions divide into tall, rounded lobes. Successive shields overlap to form the crown-shaped basket. Older shields curl inward and help retain accumulated leaf litter around the roots.

The fertile fronds are asymmetrical, repeatedly forked, and strongly pendulous. They are commonly 50–125 cm (20–49 in) long and can reach approximately 200 cm (79 in). One lower branch develops a separate stalked fertile lobe that is nearly circular, heart-shaped, or kidney-shaped. When mature, the entire concave underside of this lobe is covered by the brown spore-producing area. The remaining narrow divisions hang below the crown in a loose net-like arrangement.

Recognize P. coronarium by its crown-shaped shield basket, long asymmetrical hanging fronds, and separate rounded or kidney-shaped spore-bearing disc. P. ridleyi has stiff upright fronds; P. holttumii and P. grande carry broad spore patches within the main frond. These differences are clearest on mature fertile fronds.