Naturalized Staghorn fern

Latin superbus, excellent, superior, splendid. Sterile base fronds appressed to substrate, bases round to kidney-shaped, persistent, 120-150 x 90-135 cm, green slowly turning brown, upper margins fan-shaped, irregularly sinuate or shallowly lobed, rounded to sharp-pointed, lobes divided into 2 parts and elongated, reaching forward. Fertile fronds drooping, usually growing in pairs of equal size, up to 1 m long, narrowly wedge-shaped and thick at bases, broadening upward, upper portion 2-5 x branched. Major veins evident. Sporangia borne in single semicircular patches on broad, wedge-shaped area of frond extending into the sinuses of first frond forks.

Native of tropical and subtropical eastern Australia, Platycerium superbum does not produce offshoots and must be grown from spores. The very similar P. grande (Fee) C. Presl from the Philippines has 2 sporangial patches in the secondary forks of the fertile fronds. Localized on tree branches near cultivated plants in upper Nu'uanu Valley, O'ahu. Apparently in the early stages of becoming established in the wild.

Platycerium superbum may be distinguished from P. bifurcatum by sporangia spread over single, semicircular patches on broad, wedge-shaped areas extending into the sinuses of the first frond forks.

Reference: Hoshizaki and Price (1990).