Platycerium wallichii

Platycerium wallichii is an accepted naturally occurring species in Polypodiaceae.

William Jackson Hooker published P. wallichii in the Gardeners’ Chronicle in 1858 from material associated with Tenasserim and Malacca.

The current accepted native range includes northeastern India, Bangladesh, western Yunnan in China, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The species grows mainly on tree trunks and large branches in tropical forest, including comparatively open forest and lowland rainforest, from low elevations to approximately 1,000 m.

Platycerium wallichii normally develops one growing point rather than forming a many-crowned colony.

Shield fronds are approximately 40 cm or more across, with a base more than 1 cm thick and fleshy and a thinner upper portion divided repeatedly into upright lobes.

Fertile fronds are normally paired, hang downward, reach approximately 25–70 cm, and divide into three unequal main sections.

Two large spore-producing patches form near the first major divisions of each fertile frond and change from green to yellowish as the spores mature.

In its seasonal native habitat, P. wallichii can shed or brown its fertile fronds and rest for several months during the dry season.

A solitary crown, thick-based deeply divided shields, paired broad fertile fronds with three unequal sections, two spore patches, and seasonal dormancy identify mature P. wallichii.

Flora of China describes the wild Yunnan population as nearly extinct, and the species is nationally protected in China.

The species reproduces and is propagated from spores rather than removable pups.