Plant primer: All about elkhorn and staghorn ferns

Light: partial shade

Height: 2 to 3 feet

Spread: 2 to 3 feet

USDA Hardiness Zones: 9 to 12

Origin: New Guinea and Eastern Australia

The elkhorn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum) is a large bracket epiphyte. An epiphyte is a plant that grows on other plants and rocks rather than in soil.

Elkhorn ferns are comprised of two distinct types of leaves: infertile and fertile. Infertile nest leaves are green, which mature to brown and die. They are flat, rounded and overlap one another, covering the roots. The fertile leaves are 30 to 35 inches long and warm green, with a silver-green felt on the underside. These leaves are forked, resembling an elk’s horn or a stag’s horn.

The elkhorn fern, epithet bifurcatum, means twice-forked and refers to its leaves. Each of the fertile leaves will split in two, and then further fork.

The arching fronds grow from a central point of the nesting leaves.

See an elkhorn fern growing happily in the Tropical Rainforest and Pacific Island Water Garden at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

— Barbara Arnold

Franklin Park Conservatory